The Secret Ingredient
by DoofusPrime
Summary: Team Possible is no more.  Kim has a new flame at Upperton U while Ron is still working at Smarty Mart.  When Wade calls with news of an old foe up to familiar tricks, they must ask themselves if the past is worth moving past.
1. Rift

**The Secret Ingredient**, by DoofusPrime

_**Notes** - So I did take a short writing break, but I've been writing this story for a while. It contains some alternate pairings and a fairly large cast of characters, but as the description suggests, it also has a big focus on Kim, Ron, and their interaction. I think I could have chosen Humor, Drama, Romance, Adventure, or even Mystery for genres, so I just sort of chose two at random. In other words, unless you refuse to read anything but a certain pairing, hopefully you might like this story. Enjoy! :)_

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Rift**

XX

Several dozen heads were on the verge of smacking into their desks. Kim Possible's head was one of the few still standing at attention. A beefy hand hit the teacher's desk with a thundering clap, and all around the classroom, heads jerked up from their slumber fast enough to give a few unfortunate students whiplash.

"Is this lesson BORING you?"

The recently roused heads shook themselves in unison, and Steve Barkin led out a low grumble as he eyed his students. Considering his entire classroom had almost fallen asleep in the short time he was turned to the blackboard – with the exception of Kim Possible, of course – Steve knew they were lying.

But then, economics didn't really keep Steve awake either. At least not the way military history did. He brushed a little chalk dust off his hands, preparing to explain the details of his impeccable blackboard diagram to the class, when he caught the clock out of the corner of his eye. Most of the students in the room were also trying their best to look at the time without giving away the fact that they were looking at the time. Which, in its own way, was more challenging than most things you could study in a textbook.

"Alright," grumbled Steve. "I suppose you can all leave now. Have a productive weekend. And remember to study chapter 13. Next week, we will learn why Keynesian economics leads to nothing but disaster and despair!"

The classroom erupted with the clash and clatter of chairs and desks being manhandled as Steve's students gathered their notes, zipped up their backpacks, and hurried on their way to an afternoon of doing anything but homework.

Steve always thought college was far too lax compared to high school. In high school, he could rule his classes with an iron fist, but these college kids had it in their heads that non-compulsory higher education somehow made them adults. His control over them was somewhat neutered. No detentions, no hall lockers where he could pounce on unsuspecting teen victims. He even missed the school bells when he taught college classes.

He even – and it was hard to admit this, even to himself – sort of missed the juvenile delinquency that was more common in high school than college. These students were too well behaved. Vinnies and Big Mikes were not often found roaming ivy halls. The pay was better than constantly substituting for missing Middleton High School teachers, but the excitement? Definitely lacking.

"See you later Mr. Barkin," said Kim as she passed by his desk.

Barkin nodded curtly to his student - his most attentive college student, just as she had been in high school.

"Hey Possible," he said before she slipped out the door.

"Yes Mr. Barkin?"

"I'll be working the night shift at Smarty Mart tonight. You want me to say hello to Stoppable?"

Kim hesitated for a moment as the last of her classmates filtered through the classroom door behind her. Steve was surprised to see her pausing – in days gone by, Kim and Ron had been the closest of friends. Things had changed, he supposed. Growing up had a way of doing that.

"Sure," she finally said. "Tell him I said hi. And don't work too hard!"

"Remember to read that chapter," said Steve. Not that there was really any need to remind Kim Possible to do what she needed to do. But by the time Steve got the sentence out, she was already out the door.

XX

Kim dropped her backpack on an empty table in the study hall. She took a seat and got out her textbook and laptop computer. The study hall was in the same building as her economics class with Mr. Barkin; as soon as she had gotten out, Kim decided to get an early start on her homework even though nothing was due tomorrow. Before she even sat down, she caught a whiff of something pleasant in the room. It only took a second to notice another student seated at an adjacent table and doing some studying of his own. Laying beside his notes was a half-eaten cupcake on an unfolded napkin.

Kim was surprised a cupcake could be so fragrant. As a matter of fact, counting Barkin's comment in class, smelling the cupcake was the second time in five minutes that Kim was reminded of Ron. His baking, in particular. She hadn't talked to Ron in a while now. Kim idly clicked the top of her pen as she wondered if Ron would be happy to hear Barkin mention her when he started his shift at Smarty Mart later.

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet."

Kim looked at the boy at the adjacent table.

"I'm sorry?"

"The cupcake," said the boy. "It's pretty awesome. I saw you licking your lips at it."

Kim laughed. "Licking my lips? Exaggerate much?"

"Well, okay, but you looked like you wanted a bite. You can totally have one if you want. I'm cool with it, yo!"

Kim blanched a little as the boy held up his half-eaten cupcake. While she was a bit hungry, she wasn't exactly keen on sharing a stranger's food. If there was one thing she had learned from college dormitories, it was that her fellow students could be a little questionable when it came to hygiene.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have to do some work now."

"S'cool."

Kim opened up her laptop and lined up the textbook neatly beside it. It was time to put aside the distractions of her past, as well as distractions in the form of baked goods, and focus on some economics. Unfortunately, at the exact same time that she made this declaration to herself, Kim was once again distracted - this time by her laptop.

Kim's computer was not just any old laptop. Any time she took it out in the middle of class, it never failed to get a few oohs and aahs from classmates. Mainly from the girls, but some guys were impressed as well. Monique had modified the laptop with her own special style and given it to Kim as a present for her last birthday. The laptop was decorated in a pattern of fabrics that gave it a sort of patchwork aesthetic, and on its top, a pocket-like flap could be opened up that contained extra loose-leaf paper and a few pens. It was a little bulkier than the average laptop, but Kim was more than willing to sacrifice a little backpack space for a some extra personality in her school supplies.

Once again, Kim forced herself to focus on her homework. She opened a new document on her word processor, and was about to begin typing when her cell phone rang. Clearly, her plan to put a dent in her homework before it piled up later that week was not working out the way she had hoped.

"Hello?" she asked, fishing the phone out of her backpack and flipping it open. She was glad it hadn't gone off in Mr. Barkin's class.

"Hey Kim, what's up?"

"Hey Monique!"

Kim recognized the voice instantly, but Monique also had her own special ring whenever she called. A ring with a bit of a saucy latin rhythm, actually. "I'm just getting started on a little homework," she said.

"Homework? Girl, what are you doing homework for?"

"I've heard it's what people do in college sometimes. You should try it sometime!"

A light laugh came from the other end of the line.

"Where are you? You should come do your homework over here instead."

Kim considered the option. While tempting, she knew it was not in her best interest. "Why do I get the feeling I won't be getting much work done if I did that?" she asked teasingly.

The other end of the line was silent, and Kim felt a strange but familiar sensation – the sensation that she knew exactly what Monique looked like at that moment. Even though she couldn't see it, Kim was fairly certain that Monique was giving her the puppy dog pout. Not only was it unfair, but as far as Kim was concerned, it was a weapon that Monique had shamelessly stolen from her.

"Don't give me that," she said.

"What? Don't give you what, Kim?"

Kim sighed. It was amazing how Monique could be so persuasive without really saying anything.

The sugary, cupcakey smell returned to Kim as she thought about joining Monique instead of starting her homework in the study hall. She looked over at the boy at the adjacent table again, and while he seemed to be making an effort not to look back, Kim got the impression that his cupcake-sharing enthusiasm had been replaced by a bit of annoyance that Kim's cell phone conversation was interrupting his study session.

"Alright," said Kim as she felt the last vestiges of her resistance slip away. "I'll be over there in a few minutes."

A whoop came from the other end of the line, loud enough to make the boy at the other table give a start of surprise and almost drop his cupcake as he tried to take a bite. Kim gave him an apologetic look, closed her custom laptop, and put it back in her backpack along with her class notes as she left the study hall.

It was a good thing that Monique was usually just as studious as she was, even if Monique herself didn't believe it was true – otherwise Kim might never get anything done when she was faced with Monique's charms and distractions. She enjoyed attending Upperton University, but having someone like Monique around made going to Upperton a great experience instead of just a good one. Kim had chosen to go to Upperton after visiting schools overseas and deciding she wanted to be closer to home; while the choice hadn't helped things with Ron in the end, finding out that Monique was going to the same school had been an unexpected gift in more ways than one.

XX

Ron Stoppable eyed the customer who had just come up to the desk. She was a frumpy-looking woman in a polka dot dress, and from the looks of it, she was a little confused. Ron couldn't blame her. Smarty Mart's exotic animals section was a confusing place for anyone who had not spent years in the company of a creature as exotic as a naked mole rat. It was no wonder this poor lost woman was seeking his wisdom.

"Excuse me young man, but I was looking for-"

"Jenkins!"

Ron interrupted the woman as he motioned to the pimple-faced teen beside him. Jenkins, who had been watching Ron play a bout of _Zombie Mayhem_ on the console system set up behind the help desk, snapped to attention.

"Yes sir?"

"Please help this woman with whatever she needs."

"Right away!"

Jenkins got out from behind the counter and led the woman along as she repeated her question. As the two of them receded into the depths of an exotic animals aisle, their conversation lost in the shrieks and chatters of caged creatures, Ron sat back and cracked his knuckles in satisfaction before returning to his console game. Another customer satisfied.

Ron sat in the center of a customer service kiosk set up in the middle of Smarty Mart's exotic animals department, cocooned in a circle of help desks. Playing on a console game during work hours would normally be a major infraction, but fortunately for Ron, he was the manager. Floor manager for the exotic animals section, technically. But the other store managers were all on sick leave after being incapacitated by said exotic animals, with the exception of Ron's arch nemesis, Davis, the night and weekend manager. When Davis wasn't around, Ron was the sole floor manager of the Middleton Smarty Mart branch.

And the manager got to make the rules.

Not that Ron really liked the job all that much. He thought about his stroke of good luck as he conked out another zombie in his game. A promotion to management _was_ a bit of a pay raise – although pay raises at Smarty Mart tended to be just behind the inflation rate - and sometimes it was nice to order around subordinates. But the more time Ron spent in Smarty Mart, the more he was realizing that retail was not his passion. He felt listless, unfulfilled. It went a long way towards explaining why he was playing games on the clock instead of doing any real work. That, and the release of _Zombie Mayhem VI_ was a momentous event which Ron was still in the process of enjoying.

"STOPPABLE!"

The sound of Steve Barkin's voice sent the controller flying from Ron's hands. He cowered in terror as his former high school teacher strode towards him, appearing out of an aisle as if he had materialized right in the middle of the store. Ron was expecting to get an earful for shirking his job duties until he remembered something important: he was the manager. Barkin was not.

"Hey Mr. Barkin!" said Ron. His terror was gone, but he still felt a little flustered. Even when Barkin was just giving him a regular greeting, he sounded vaguely angry.

"I apologize," said Mr. Barkin as he glanced down at his watch, "but it looks like I'm two minutes late. You'll have to dock my pay. Long day at Upperton, you see."

"It's all good, Mr. B. I'll let it slide."

"Possible says hello, by the way."

Ron nodded awkwardly. "Uh - how is she doing?" he asked.

"She's doing well, as always. Acing all her tests. She seems to be attending class on time now that's she's in college as well – she must have cut down on her missions. Anyway," asked Barkin after a moment of silence, "is there anything to do for tonight's shift?"

"Nope. It's pretty empty around here tonight. I sent Jenkins off to help some lady a minute ago, but that's about all the action I've seen in a couple of hours."

"Other than _zombie_ action, I see," said Barkin as he peered over the counter at Ron's console screen, exhaling in a disdainful way. Ron didn't know exhaling could sound disdainful, but Mr. Barkin had just demonstrated it could.

"Yeah. Other than that."

Steve looked around at Smarty Mart's exotic animals aisles surrounding the customer service kiosk. It was definitely on the empty side tonight. Not that a whole lot of people came to the Smarty Mart for discount animal purchases – Steve always maintained that it was not a cost-effective department, but those nitwits in upper management never listened to him. They appointed one his students to management over him, after all. That had happened a few months ago, and he could still feel the sting.

Steve watched his former student and current manager plugging away at the game. Although he secretly had a certain fondness for Stoppable, much of the time the boy got on his nerves, and tonight Steve thought he would be happier by himself. Maybe he could convince Stoppable to leave early and let him take over for the night. He could try his hand at managerial duties, sit in the de facto manager's seat that Ron always used in the kiosk – and judging by the faint scream that just came out of the monitor lizard aisle, Steve assumed that Jenkins would need the first aid kit in a moment.

"Excuse me, Stoppable," said Barkin. "I'm going to go check on Jenkins."

Ron nodded as he continued playing his game, glad that his former teacher was willing to investigate. He found himself thinking about Kim, a little surprised to hear a casual hello from her relayed through Mr. Barkin. He knew that Mr. Barkin was teaching at Upperton, and that Kim even had a class with him this semester, but he still hadn't heard anything from her in a while, even indirectly.

Ron was even more surprised by the possibility that she was no longer going on missions anymore. At least not according to Mr. Barkin. He hadn't gone on any missions with her since the breakup, but he had always assumed Kim was continuing them on her own, or maybe with backup from Global Justice. It seemed hard to believe. Kim Possible, no longer saving the world? He supposed things changed sometimes. Maybe the college really _had_ sucked her into its sweet, seductive lifestyle.

Ron noticed Mr. Barkin return from his trip into the twisted recesses of the exotic animals section, sporting a couple of fresh slashes across his suit sleeves. His tie was dislodged from his suit and hung loosely from his neck, rumpled and a little torn on the end.

"Is Jenkins alright?"

"Yeah, that kid'll be fine," said Barkin. "The monitor lizards broke out, but I phoned the on-site paramedics. He should be up and back to work in a few days."

Ron frowned. Apparently he had been lost in his game a little longer than he thought. It was a good thing the monitor lizards hadn't leaped over into his kiosk while he was distracted.

"You know," said Steve, "It is getting pretty late, and I know we both have another shift tomorrow. If you wanted to, you could leave a bit early and make sure you get a good night's sleep."

Ron looked up from his game, the tip of his tongue still poking out of his mouth and his brow still furrowed in concentration. It took a moment for him to return to the mundane, lacking-in-the-undead reality of Smarty Mart.

"What was that?" he asked as he looked around the store. "Who would run things if I'm gone? I thought Davis has tonight off," said Ron with a shudder of distaste at the thought of the other floor manager.

"He does, but I'm well versed in the ways of management, Stoppable," said Steve. "I'll hold the fort while you're gone and make sure the store gets closed up properly. Don't you worry about it."

Ron thought over his employee's proposition. It was true that he was getting bored sitting around the store; this console was no match for his system at home, after all, and being interrupted by a customer just when you were trying to escape beaten eaten alive by zombies was no fun.. And he did have to get up again for more work in the morning. Unlike some of those college students, Ron had to work for a living.

"Well, if you're sure you can handle it..."

"Are you kidding me, Stoppable? I was BORN for this!"

Ron eyed Barkin suspiciously. Something was not right.

"Wait a minute, you've been calling me Stoppable."

Steve coughed nervously. "I mean, I was born for this, _sir_. It won't be a problem!"

Ron nodded. That was much better.

"In that case, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he shut off his game and left the kiosk to Barkin.

On the way to the employee room, Ron stopped in front of a puddle of water lying in the middle of one of the exotic animals aisles. Either water or animal urine, he couldn't tell which. Ron used his Mystical Monkey Power to levitate himself temporarily over the puddle, landing safely on the other side. He would clean it up, but his shift was technically done since Mr. Barkin had taken over for him, and he knew Barkin would find the puddle in about thirty seconds, seeing as the man patrolled the store constantly.

Ron clocked out in the employee lounge room and thought about taking a Naco from his stash in the refrigerator to eat at home, but he decided it would be better to get a fresh meal from Bueno Nacho itself instead of reheating one. Rufus would appreciate that more, too.

He left the store's back entrance, which led into the small employee parking lot, and got on his trusty scooter. The Smarty Mart was understaffed, and a lone streetlight perched over the employee lot cast its glow over a handful of cars parked here and there. Ron struggled to get his scooter's ailing engine up and running, and his thoughts turned to Kim as he began to drive.

Kim's life had certainly taken an unexpected path if she wasn't doing missions anymore. Ron thought it was even more jarring than her current relationship. Then again, Ron wondered if he had ever really expected to be where he was now. He couldn't remember if he was expecting anything in particular after graduation. His worries about his future with Kim had come true. He had never tried to hone his Mystical Monkey Power at Yamanouchi. Would the Ron of three years ago be surprised if he found his older self still working Smarty Mart?

Ron wasn't sure. But there was something sad about the thought that, if what Mr. Barkin had said really was true, he and Kim were now both out of the mission business for good.

XX

It did not take a look at the security cameras to know that something had just exploded in the warehouse.

Assad Sacke, the operations manager based at the Middleton warehouse in question, was startled right out of his chair. He had been propping his feet up against a desk in the second-story manager's office, but the thundering sound coming from outside the room had startled him enough to make him lose his balance. He went toppling onto the floor as his swiveling chair swiveled right out from under him.

Before he had even gotten up, Assad knew that this would not be a good evening.

"What's going on?" he yelled nervously as he raced out of the manager's office and down a flight of metal stairs to reach the warehouse floor. Several workers were backing away from a cloud of smoke obscuring the loading dock door. Assad reached the ground level just in time to see several burly figures step out from the smoke and into the warehouse. They were clad from head to toe in black ninja gear – or perhaps it was special ops gear. Assad couldn't be sure. Their outfits gave them the curious appearance of having materialized from the smoke itself.

"Sir!" yelled a nearby guard. "We have intruders!"

Assad was fairly sure the guard should have been outside of the loading dock door, guarding the warehouse's back entrance, but judging by a quick glance at the break area he could see that all the guards had been inside playing cards. He sighed at very obvious intruder warning as the guard was knocked out by a punch from one of the black-clad assailants.

"Fight back!" he shouted, but it was clearly no use. Whoever these people were, they seemed to know what they were doing.

Several of the black-clad figures gathered around the Containment Chambers in the center of the warehouse and lifted up the first of the chambers between them, carrying it out of the still-smoking hole in the loading dock door. Assad was supposed to be overseeing the packing process for the Containment Chambers, but a cursory look told him that no one in the warehouse had been doing much work that night. Counting himself. Fortunately, at least in this case, his poor management meant that the thieves – whoever they were – would not be getting away with much.

This minor break did not do much to reassure Assad when he caught sight of a particularly large man approaching him. A pair of steely eyes glared at him through the holes of a black face mask. Just before Assad's face met with the man's fist and his mind took a temporary break from consciousness, a brief thought ran through his head:

_Oh boy. The bosses are going to be angry. One of them, anyway._

XX_

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_**Notes** - That's it for the first chapter, hope you liked it! As always, reviews are appreciated. I'll be interested in seeing if some of my regular readers still have an interest in this, or what new readers might be into it. I will most likely update this twice a week, although it might pick up even more once the whole story is finished (It is fully outlined and mostly written right now, but not done yet).__ Put it on alerts if you want to keep up.  
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	2. Wading In

**Wading In**

XX

The loading dock door would be closed, were it not for the gaping hole in its center. The door's edges were blackened and curled inwards from the force of the explosion that had blasted it open. Drakken stood out on the loading dock and stared at the door. Through the ragged edges of the hole, he could see the inside of the warehouse. He felt his anger rising as he stepped closer, but as he looked at the damage, something about its appearance reminded him of flower petals.

That image, in turn, reminded him of the unfortunate botanical condition he had been forced to bear after spraying himself with that Super High Pollinator a couple of years ago. Drakken shuddered at the memory. Sprouting vines and petals had proved to have some uses, to be sure, but they had also been hard to control sometimes, which had caused him no end of embarrassment. One incident in particular came to mind when Drakken thought of embarrassment, but he was not inclined to add to his bad mood by thinking about _that_.

The whole fiasco – along with the Mega Skin Toughener debacle of last year – was a good lesson in the importance of creating antidotes for his dangerous formulas _before_ he started using the formulas themselves. If only he could remember that lesson once in a while.

"Nice to you see you, sir!"

Drakken's ill humor found a target in the man who stepped gingerly out onto the loading dock through the jagged hole in the door. He looked down at his operations manager, Assad Sacke, with a vague air of distaste. Drakken was not pleased at having to visit the Middleton warehouse to deal with issues yet again, but something about Assad himself bothered him as well. Although he wore the same uniform that Drakken demanded the rest of his subordinates wear, Assad's uniform always seemed a little more rumpled than the rest. And on this particular morning, Assad's usual unkempt and slightly forlorn appearance was accentuated by a black eye.

"I'd like to apologize for letting this happen again, sir – I don't know how they managed to pull off a heist twice in a row. I think some of the guards must have been shirking their duties."

"Tell me, Assad - who happens to be in charge of those guards, hmm?"

Assad gulped. He had no idea if he _was_, in fact, in charge of the guards, but Drakken did not strike him as the kind of employer who would brook any argument. Assad had been excited to get a new position so quickly after being fired from his old job, especially with the state of the economy in the tri-city area. But with the way Drakken spoke to him sometimes, Assad wondered if getting fired from this new job would involve some sort of actual fire. Perhaps a flamethrower.

"I'm in charge of the guards, sir," said Assad. "And I promise, this won't happen again!"

"I believe you said that the first time we were attacked," said Drakken. He felt the scar under his eye itch with a pulsing heat, which it sometimes did when he got into one of his moods. "Last time they hijacked one of our shipments en route to the new facility in Go City," he mused aloud. "Why would they attack the warehouse itself this time? Tell me again what happened, Assad."

"I was overseeing the packing of the Triple C's here in the warehouse when the blast occurred," said Assad. "Several of the intruders came flooding in from the loading dock after they blew it open. We tried to fight them – I personally fought tooth and nail until I was subdued by several of them – but they overpowered us and took the chambers. Fortunately we had only just starting packing them, so they didn't really make off with much."

Drakken nodded as the two of them stood on the loading dock. It was a bit of good news, but not nearly enough to make up for the hassle of coming out to the warehouse personally.

"Show me what we have on security camera," he said.

Assad led his blue-skinned boss into the warehouse, stepping over some debris which Drakken was displeased to notice had not been cleaned up yet. Drakken looked around; a number of his henchmen were standing idly around and watching him enter, while a few more were seated at the break table off to the side, laughing amongst themselves and eating snacks from the vending machines. Drakken felt dual flashes of hunger and annoyance irritate his scar even more.

"What am I paying all of you for?" yelled Drakken. "_Nnnngh_ - no wonder the operation has been stalling! Everyone must get to work immediately!"

Assad led Drakken up a set of stairs and into his small manager's office, which overlooked the warehouse floor. A set of computer monitors inside the room provided feeds of the security cameras set up around the loading dock and the warehouse's other doors, as well as a couple of cameras set up inside the building itself. Drakken was displeased to look at one indoor feed and see that the workers at the break table had returned to their snacks and conversation as soon as Drakken had left their sight.

"Unfortunately," said Assad as he punched a command into a keyboard, "we have pretty much nothing on the cameras. Whoever these people are, they're pros!"

Drakken watched as a taped feed from earlier that day played on one of the monitors. The footage came from the security camera set outside the loading dock door. Drakken immediately saw that none of his guards had been standing outside on the loading dock, even though they were supposed to watch the warehouse entrances. He would have to give his employees a little pep talk in a few moments.

As the monitor played its footage, Drakken caught a glimpse of a bulky, masked figure approaching the camera seconds before the camera feed cut off abruptly.

"That's it?"

"Yes sir."

"Zoom in on the figure and slow the feed down."

Assad typed in a couple more commands. The figure had something in its hand, probably to disrupt the security camera system. Judging by his physique, the figure was male and well-built, but he was covered in a black face mask and body suit.

Drakken furrowed his brow. So he was dealing with an unknown group of intruders who seemed intent on disrupting his plans. Assad had called them pros, but Drakken wasn't sure about that. Attacking the warehouse when it hadn't even been dark outside was a strike against them. Not to mention blasting through a loading dock door was a little ridiculous when they could have just gone through the air vents. His old teen nemesis, Kim Possible, had proven time and time again what an Achilles Heel air vents could be.

Drakken's brow furrowed even more deeply. Maybe that was why Kim Possible had always beaten him: Air vents! After all, how could you really block them without disrupting air flow? Leaving them open gave your enemies access to defeat you, but closing them led to long term defeat through poor air quality – which, in its own way, was far worse for a supervillain's health than an attack by teen defenders of justice. It was a lose-lose scenario. As Drakken considered the implications of this problem, he found his anger changing into a more profound philosophical crisis. He would have to make a note of the air vent quandary. Just as soon as -

"Sir?"

"Yes, Assad, what is it," snapped Drakken impatiently.

"What should we do?"

"Never mind about that. I'll take care of it."

Drakken tapped a finger on his chin as he stared at the security feed. Assad had turned the cameras back on before he arrived, but seeing as they had been turned off during the heist itself, there was next to nothing that could point him in the right direction. Assad's information had been useless. Although Drakken placed most of the blame on Assad, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed that he was dealing with these unknown attackers for the second time. Perhaps Drakken's normal scheming instincts were a little rusty as a result of that long period of inactivity after he and Shego had saved the world.

Still, Drakken told himself as he left the manager's office and returned to the warehouse floor, this was just a temporary setback. A childish attempt by unknown and probably totally jealous enemies to slow down his progress on this new enterprise. Drakken's mind raced on all pistons as it went over the details of his plan, all thoughts of air vents disappearing into the ether. There was no stopping him. Of that, he was sure. He would deal with this minor setback, and when his operation got rolling, the world wouldn't know what hit it.

Just as soon as he repaired that loading dock door, anyway.

XX

It was already getting dark by the time Kim pulled the Sloth into the small parking lot behind her apartment complex. Its hood crackled as it cooled down, and Kim got out as she looked up at the glowing yellow window, behind which she knew Monique was waiting for her. Her arm snaked instinctively over her waist – Kim was wearing one of her midriff-baring shirts, and while she could probably count on a little more warm fall weather to come, tonight was chillier than usual. She hurried across the sidewalk and went up the covered stairway nestled between two apartment buildings. Up one floor, she opened the door to room 203, eager to warm up in her apartment.

Kim corrected herself: _their_ apartment.

She and Monique had lived there for over a year now, ever since they became sophomores. They used to have a third roommate, but once she moved out, Kim and Monique had decided to keep the apartment to themselves instead of finding a new one. It was more expensive, but it was also more convenient. Not to mention a little more private.

No sooner had Kim opened the door than she was hit by a whiff of something delicious. Whatever it was, it smelled almost as good as that cupcake the boy in the study hall had been eating earlier. Kim's economics class with Mr. Barkin always ran a little late, and Kim knew that - as she so often did - Monique had made something good for dinner in preparation of her arrival.

"Hey honey!" shouted a voice from the kitchen.

Kim set her backpack down beside the couch in the living room. She was about to make her way into the kitchen when Monique came out with a plate balanced in each hand, managing to nod her head in the direction of the couch. Apparently they weren't eating in the kitchen tonight. Kim sat down on the couch and accepted the meal Monique had made for her. Monique set her own meal down on the coffee table in front of them, gave Kim a quick kiss on the cheek, and grabbed the television remote.

"Not eating in the kitchen tonight?" asked Kim.

Monique shook her head as she turned on the television. "I think the season premiere of _Evil Eye for the Bad Guy_ is on in a few minutes. Can't miss that!"  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were studying up on how to betray me and join the dark side."

"Pfft. They have some great fashions on that show. It's a good way to get tips and ideas! And besides," added Monique in a suggestive voice, "I thought you liked a little dark side."

"Laaame!" Kim said with a grin.

As the show began, Kim dug into her food: a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with a little garlic bread on the side. Nothing fancy, but there was no denying Monique's culinary talent. Kim had gotten better at cooking over time as well – she had improved quickly when she and Ron had been going out, in particular – but she still preferred to let others cook if she could get away with it.

Kim found herself reminded of Ron for the third time that day. She remembered the meals he made when they were together. Baking was his specialty, but he could make anything taste good. Monique's cooking, while good, was not as good as Ron's. But then Kim hadn't enjoyed one of Ron's meals in a long time. And she would never make the comparison to Monique. There was no reason to bring it up – and _that_ would be an awkweird comment if there ever was one.

"Just look at that stone wall!" shouted a fey voice from the television. An interior designer was flicking his hands at the wall in question, almost as if he was trying to exorcise them of a fashion demon, while a sheepish supervillain stood nearby and watched as the show's hosts verbally laid waste to his lair.

"Rock is a _perfectly_ acceptable choice of lair material," said the supervillain, whom Kim did not recognize.

"Oh, rock can be nice, don't get me wrong, but you've got leaky walls!" The designer pointed to one of the leaks in question. "With all this electrical equipment lined up against it, I'm surprised we haven't been fried by a power surge yet! And look at that choice of paint styles on your doomsday weapon – honey, that clashes worse than the titans!"

Kim yawned as the show went on. It wasn't long before she finished her meal, setting the plate on the coffee table and shifting onto her side as she nestled into the couch, her head resting on Monique's lap. Monique flicked idly at Kim's flowing red hair a few times, although her attention was still absorbed in the show.

"How were classes and work?" Kim asked as she looked up at her girlfriend.

"Not bad. Classes were a little boring, work was fun. I finished designing those masks for Steve and Paul. I think we'll test them out later this week."

"Nice. I'll have to come check that out when you guys are playing with them."

"Be sure that you do."

"I'll lend you my expertise on whether they're a fashion pass or fail."

Monique stuck her tongue out, spying an impish grin beneath the halo of red hair below her. "We'll be meeting at the Arena on Friday," she said.

Kim thought about doing some of her homework before the rest of the night slipped out from between her fingers, but she could already feel herself giving in. The work would have to wait until later that week. It was a lost cause, and Monique's lap was entirely too soft to encourage any getting up. As a matter of fact, Kim felt her eyelids begin to droop as sleep crept closer. Her thoughts grew hazy and started to flit about – images of Monique, images of Ron, images of Mr. Barkin ranting about the genius of Hayek – until she was jerked back from slumber by the sound of a phone ringing.

"I think that's yours," said Monique.

Kim reached over the side of the couch and fished the cell phone from her backpack. She flipped it open and said 'hello?' before realizing that it was not her phone that was ringing. Kim frowned and looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the ring, before realizing that it was not in fact a ring, but a series of beeps.

A beep beep _bee_-beep, in fact.

Kim fished the Kimmunicator from her backpack and felt herself flushing with embarrassment. She was surprised that she hadn't recognized the signal, but then, she was tired, and she had not used the Kimmunicator in a while. Her fancy watch Kimmunicator was lying on top of a dresser in their bedroom, since Kim had been wearing a normal watch for a long time now. Still, she was caught off guard by her forgetfulness. Had it really been _that_ long?

"Hey Wade," she said as the familiar boy popped into the screen. Kim had seen him in real life a few times during college, even though he hadn't beeped her in a while. He looked a little more grown up than he had in Kim's high school days, but Wade still had his chubby physique and boyish features about him.

"Hey Kim!"

"What's the sitch? You haven't called me on this thing in a long time."

"That sort of _is_ the sitch, actually," said Wade. "I know you haven't gone on any missions in a while now, and I thought you might want to get back in the game. I have one that might be interesting."

"Oh yeah?" said Kim. Something about Wade's delivery made her a little suspicious, but she decided she'd bite. "What is it?"

"Well, there's a catch."

"A catch?"

"Yeah."

Wade hesitated a moment before continuing, and then gave Kim a cautious smile.

"You'd need to go with Ron."

XX

Middleton was fast asleep, wrapped in a blanket of night and serenaded by the chirping of crickets. Its slumber would have been peaceful if it wasn't for the backfiring of a scooter's engine. Ron Stoppable drove the scooter in question down his neighborhood street on the way back home from his shift at Smarty Mart.

It was the same street where he had grown up. The street where he still lived with his mother and father. Ron was older, but things did not look that much different than they did in his memories. His scooter was getting a little older too, however, and Ron got the feeling that it was on its last legs. It had been on its last legs in high school, actually. Maybe now it was wobbling on one last crushed foot or something.

He was almost home, but Ron unconsciously slowed the scooter down to a near standstill as he passed by a familiar house close to his own. He knew that Kim was not at home – she was in Upperton, with Monique – but judging by the light coming from the living room window, Kim's parents were home, and probably her younger brothers as well. Ron had not talked to them in a while. He hadn't really seen them since Kim broke up with him, now that he thought about it. He felt an urge to go in and visit them, but as he had done before when he passed by the house, he found himself resisting.

Why _did_ he resist? It was a question that Ron had asked himself before, but whenever he groped for a clear answer, none appeared. Of course there hadn't been as many opportunities to hang out at Kim's house quite as often as he used to, once Kim went to college and he became busier at Smarty Mart, but he had still maintained a good relationship with Kim's family after the two of them began their life past high school. But that had abruptly stopped when his relationship with Kim ended.

Maybe he felt like he didn't belong there anymore. Maybe he felt like they would blame him for the breakup – he had always gotten the feeling that Anne was a big supporter of his relationship with Kim, and while James occasionally threw teasing comments about space probes his way, it seemed like Kim's father had supported the two of them as well. Ron knew that, even now after what had happened, he was safe from being shot into deep space. And yet something about facing Kim's parents set off a knot in his stomach.

He revved up the scooter again and pushed it along the last stretch to his own house. The windows were dark, but even if his parents were asleep, the last burst of backfires sputtering out of the scooter's exhaust pipe were more than enough to wake up anyone in the block. Ron parked the scooter and grabbed the Bueno Nacho dinner he had grabbed on his way home from its basket. He barely creaked open the door when Rufus leaped at him from inside the house. Either the mole rat had been waiting for him to come home, or – just as likely – he had smelled Nacos long before Ron even reached the driveway.

"Hey buddy!"

Rufus squeaked and rubbed his stomach in anticipation, staring at the bag in Ron's hand.

"Hold your horses, I got enough for both of us." He went into the living room with Rufus perched on his shoulder and dropped onto the couch like dead weight. Rufus looked up at him beseechingly, asking if he could begin to eat now that Ron was more comfortable.

"Okay, okay. Let's dig in!"

XX

Faint, jagged bursts of conversation started and stopped at intervals as the television channels changed. There was nothing left to eat, and Ron sat on the couch with the remote in his hand. An assortment of trash and wrapping paper lay strewn across the coffee table in front of him. In the middle of the mess sat an empty Bueno Nacho take-out bag, which looked like it had exploded and scattered its contents over the table. A sleeping naked mole rat could also be found partially hidden in the wreckage.

Ron had only gotten home about fifteen minutes ago, but he and Rufus had already made short work of their dinner. It was long past dinner time – it would only be another hour or so before morning, as a matter of fact – but Ron was liberal in his interpretation of dinner time. His philosophy was that there was no bad time for Bueno Nacho. If he felt a little crummy in the tummy later that night, it was still preferable to skipping dinner entirely.

He grumbled as he flipped the channels. He had missed the season premiere of _Evil Eye For the Bad Guy_, and his parents hadn't taped it even though Ron had asked them to. There was nothing else on television, either. Ron had another shift at work tomorrow, and he began to think about taking Mr. Barkin's suggestion and getting a good night's sleep. He was about to turn off the television and clean up his mess when his father appeared at the foot of the stairway leading upstairs.

"Hello, son."

"Hey pop. How's it going?"

"I've been working a little late, but I heard you coming home a few minutes ago."

"Cool – how's my baby sister?"

"Hana is asleep upstairs. By the way, you got a call today from that Wade boy."

Ron glanced up at his father as he gathered the trash from the coffee table. Wade? Ron was happy to hear that the teen genius had tried to get in touch with him, but he wondered why. Wade hadn't called him for a while now. Ever since missions with Kim had stopped, really. Ron wasn't even sure if he remembered Wade's number anymore, although it was written in an address book inside a kitchen drawer beneath the phone.

"Thanks dad, I'll call him."

"You don't want to wake up him up," Dean cautioned his son. "Maybe you should wait until tomorrow. It's a little late to be calling him now, don't you think?"

"Naw, don't worry," laughed Ron. "Wade will be wide awake."

His father said goodnight and went back up the stairs to go to sleep as Ron went into the kitchen and picked up the phone. It took a minute of searching, but he dialed Wade's number after finding it in the address book. Sure enough, it took only one ring before Wade picked up. He was probably typing away at his bank of computers, planning some mission with Kim. Or, Ron reminded himself, with Global Justice, assuming Kim wasn't doing the missions anymore. Or maybe Wade was just playing a game.

"Hey Wade. Dad said you called me?"

"Sure did. It's nice to talk to you again, by the way. What have you been up to?"

"Ah, same old same old. Working a lot of shifts at the Smarty Mart."

Ron felt a little sheepish that he couldn't tell Wade of any other interesting goings-on in his life, but then, Ron wasn't Kim. Not everyone was headed for the stars. He idly wondered if Kim and Wade were still as close as they had been. Maybe they still worked on their missions together. The way Barkin had talked about Kim earlier made it sound like maybe she wasn't as active in freak fighting as she used to be, but it was hard for Ron to believe.

"I heard you got promoted to management," said Wade.

"That's right. The Ron Man's a big dog now!"

Ron tried to sound enthusiastic, but came off a little half-hearted instead. "Oh, and Barkin is one of my employees now."

Wade sniggered. Although he did not have the first-hand experience with Steve Barkin that Kim and Ron had had the dubious pleasure of experiencing while they were in high school, he knew enough about the teacher to be amused at the thought of Ron Stoppable ordering him around. "That's awesome!" he told Ron.

"Yeah. So what's up with you, Wade?"

"Actually, I was calling to make you a proposition."

"And what's that?"

"A proposition? It's like an offer or proposal for you to consider."

"No, I mean, what proposition are you making?"

"Oh, right. Um, okay – hear me out on this, Ron – do you want to go on a mission?"

Ron had not been expecting _that_ proposition. As he thought about it, however, he supposed it wasn't surprising. He did have mystical monkey powers, after all, and even if his control over them was tenuous at best, he figured it must make him a valuable asset if Wade was in need of some help. Ron wondered why Wade hadn't called Kim instead – perhaps she really _had_ been sucked into the collegiate life.

"Well, I guess I haven't gone on a mission in a while," said Ron after he considered the proposal. "It could be fun, and you know I'm always cool with helping you out, Wade. Are you sure it's something I could handle solo?"

A nervous cough came from the other end of the line.

"It wouldn't be solo."

"Oh?"

"No. You'd be going with Kim."

XX

Wade's bedroom was dark, save for the light of his computer monitors and a _Sheela of the Leopard People_ night-light beside his bed. The darkness was a good fit for his mood at that moment. Both Kim and Ron had rejected his mission. They hadn't even given him time to explain what it was, although Wade was reluctant to explain anything until he got them both to agree to meet with him first. Ron might be more pliable, but it was not exactly the kind of mission that Kim would be enthusiastic about. She might need a little convincing.

Despite their rejection, Wade had told them that they would need to accept the mission by Friday if they wanted to go, and that he could really use their help. Neither one of them sounded like they had any interest in going, but Wade had managed to get them to promise him that they would at least think about it. Perhaps, if they were not open to the idea tonight, Wade had at least thrown the option out there.

"Honey, isn't it time for sleep? You've got school tomorrow!"

Wade furrowed his brow at the sound of his mother's voice. Didn't she understand there were far more important things for Wade to attend to than sleep? He let out a sigh of exasperation, which into a yawn halfway before it ended.

"Yes mom, I know!"

She had a point, but it wasn't like Wade payed any attention in his classes anyway. Heck, he designed half the lesson plans, which gave him enough currency with his teachers that he could essentially skip classes when he wanted to. Bureaucratic red tape was the only reason they hadn't skipped him all the way into college yet.

Then again, he _was_ getting tired, and it looked like he had done everything he could do with his two old friends for tonight. Maybe it was time for bed.

Wade yawned again as he shut down a few programs. Kim and Ron were being stubborn as usual, but Wade had years of experience dealing with the two of them. He knew a little about what had happened in their relationship, and he knew that things had been cold between them for a while now. But enough was enough. He wanted to see them back together on missions, for a variety of reasons. He thought it would be good for the two of them - but perhaps even more than that, Wade was beginning to miss fighting supervillains and saving the world with his friends.

He was about to leave his control station when he caught a whiff of something delicious. The scent had filled his room all night, but he had been distracted in his attempts to get Kim and Ron to go on this mission together. Now, however, his attention returned to the cupcake sitting on his desk. Wade couldn't resist; it was late, but he lunged at the cupcake, almost as a reflexive reaction, and stuffed it into his mouth.

For a moment, Wade was bothered by the idea that he had forgotten to do something with the cupcake, but he was tired, and the taste was amazing to the point of distraction. Heavenly, even. Chewing through the wave of pleasure that crashed over his tongue and down his throat, Wade wondered if he had even tasted a better cupcake.

He finished the cupcake and brushed a few crumbs from his hands before putting on his pajamas and climbing into bed. Wade pulled back his covers as his thought about his mission. He had planted the thought in Kim and Ron's minds. They were stubborn, but they would not let their old friend down. All they needed was a little time to think about it.

Meanwhile, Wade thought as he stared at the bulge under the covers that was his stomach, maybe he would walk to school tomorrow to burn off a little bit of his late-night snack.


	3. Back on the Horse

**Back on the Horse**

XX

The numbers on the alarm clock were ticking up to levels that Kim had rarely seen in the morning. She lay on her side in bed and watched as another minute crept by. An eleven and two zeros winked back at her as the alarm clock changed to a new hour. Kim had no classes on Friday, but it was getting very late compared to her usual morning schedule. She was being a bit of a bad girl.

Kim turned over in bed, almost forgetting that Monique had left earlier that morning, and stared at the rumpled blank spot where her girlfriend had slept. Monique had work to do, and while Kim still had some weekend homework to start, she felt like sleeping in a little. Maybe Kim wasn't a bad girl so much as she was a good girl being corrupted by Monique's easy-going, devil-may-care attitude. That had to be it, she told herself. Kim Possible was always responsible, after all.

She yawned and pushed herself up a little farther as she looked around the bedroom. The morning sunlight was pouring through the window blinds, well on its way to becoming afternoon sunlight, and the collection of fashion designs and sketches that Monique had plastered on various walls were lit up in their usual colorful resplendence. Kim had some of her Cuddle Buddies displayed on a shelf nearby, although she had only taken a few from her collection at home when they had first moved into the apartment, not wanting to freak Monique out with the extent of her obsession. Closer to the bed stood a wire cage on a stand, which contained a pair of actual pets that Kim had bought with Monique soon after they moved into the apartment together.

"Good morning, Chirparoo One and Too," she said. The Budgerigars in the cage scampered back and forth excitedly on their bar and chirped back in reply.

Kim yawned and forced herself out of bed in order to feed the birds and dress herself for the day. The week had passed by uneventfully – other than that call from Wade near its beginning - and now she was looking forward to the weekend. She had told Monique earlier that she would pay her a visit at work today, so that was the first item on her to-do list. She opened a dresser drawer and fished out her trusty white shirt with the pink heart. The shirt was getting a little old, but it was one of her favorites.

Thoughts of a pleasant weekend with Monique were cut off as Kim began to think more clearly about the call Wade had given her a few days ago. She had given Wade's call a little bit of thought over the week, but her attitude hadn't changed that much. It wasn't that she never wanted to see Ron again, but things had been awkward between them. They had fallen out of touch. Kim remembered the breakup with a slight grimace; it happened long ago, and she had gotten enough distance past it to move on, but the breakup had not been a pleasant one. Not that breakups were ever pleasant. At least not as far as Kim was aware.

_Cheep cheep!_

"Yes," said Kim as she opened up the cage, "food is coming. You guys are totally pampered, you know. You're getting your breakfast before I am."

_Cheep che-cheep – going on a mission!_

Kim smiled as Chirparoo One seemed to read her thoughts. Apparently it had caught a snippet of conversation with Monique, or perhaps even Wade, earlier that week. Either that or it happened to be a telepathic bird. Kim thought it was unlikely, but when Rufus came to mind, she had to wonder. Chirparoo Too nodded its head in agreement with its partner's statement as Kim gave them their food.

"Trying to get me to go, are you?" said Kim. "Probably so you can open up your cage and poop everywhere in the apartment. Nice try."

_Cheep!_

Kim closed the cage again and watched as the birds ate their fill of millet seed and spinach. Monique was the one who had wanted the birds, but Kim was happy to have them as well – in part because they served as a replacement for Rufus. Kim supposed that Rufus might be a little insulted to be compared to pet birds. Although the Budgerigars were intelligent birds, they didn't hold a candle to Rufus. Now that she barely saw Ron anymore, Rufus was gone as well, and despite his atrocious eating habits, she did miss Ron's pet mole rat.

They were no Rufuses, but the birds were smart enough to remind Kim yet again of what she had been trying to ignore. Wade's offer was beginning to weigh more heavily on her, as she remembered that the deadline Wade had set on accepting it was today. She had not gone any missions in a while, it was true, and although she hadn't thought about it very much, Kim had always assumed she would eventually return to them. It was too much a part of her life to just disappear completely, even if she had been sidetracked a little.

But going on a mission with Ron was another thing entirely. Things would be awkweird to say the least. While Kim had always thought in the back of her mind that she would continue her missions, she wondered if she could say the same about whether she and Ron would ever patch things up. She certainly wasn't against it, but the Ron question seemed harder to answer. Could they just go back to being friends? Was Ron even interested in that anymore?

Their lives had drifted apart. Perhaps that was just how life went sometimes. And to be honest, she did not want to go on a mission with Ron and deal with the same attitude that he had taken with her after the breakup. The whole subject was beginning to cast a dark cloud over her good mood, so she decided to shelve it at least for a while. Right now, it was time to visit Monique.

"See you guys later," Kim said to her birds as she left the bedroom. "Don't be causing any trouble!"

Before the birds could protest the idea that they would ever even _think_ of causing trouble, Kim had closed the door behind her.

XX

"And _that_," said Ron as Steve Barkin listened with half-lidded eyes, "is when I told him I had no interest in going on a mission with Kim if she didn't even care enough to ask me herself! I mean, that was what Wade said – he told me Kim hadn't even agreed to come yet. He said he had to 'work on her' a little. Why should I put myself through that?"

Steve shrugged noncommittally as he sat inside the customer service kiosk and watched customers passing by. Normally he would like to be out doing something on the floor – cleaning and organizing merchandise, helping a customer, or any number of other important retail duties that needed to be done lest the store fall into unrepairable, horrifying chaos. He would also enjoy being in Ron's position and ordering a few subordinates around. Steve was a natural leader, after all.

Instead, ever since Steve had clocked in that morning, he had been sitting next to Stoppable and listening to endless sob stories of teen drama. At least he _thought_ it was teen drama. Maybe Stoppable wasn't a teen anymore; he couldn't quite remember if the boy had reached his 20's or not.

"So what do you think?" asked Ron. "I did the right thing when I turned him down, right?"

"Why are you asking me, Stoppable? If you don't want to go, you don't want to go."

"Exactly!" said Ron as he nodded vigorously in agreement. "That's exactly what I'm saying! It's just that Wade said I would have to decide sometime before tonight if I wanted to go."

Ron sat back in his chair and twiddled a staple remover between his fingers, trying to convince himself that he had made the right decision. A nagging voice in the back of his mind told him that he was still undecided. Otherwise, he would not have been thinking about Wade's call ever since he got up that morning. But still, Ron did not feel like traveling cross-country and hearing about what a wonderful time Kim was having in college. Probably acing all her classes, partying with lots of well-built frat boys before going back to her apartment to engage in hot girl-on-girl making out with Monique. Ron knew it was a little strange to care about the attention Kim got from frat boys if she was with a girl now, but he had no time to worry about being illogical. He was _sure_ that was exactly what was going on.

And, most of all, Ron told himself, Kim was probably glad she had cast off a total loser like himself before he dragged her down with him. He didn't need to go a mission and screw things up like he usually did, just to be reminded of what a third wheel he had become.

Not even a third wheel, really. Now that Ron thought about it, that expression didn't make much sense. A third wheel was completely necessary on a car, or even a carriage. You actually needed a fourth wheel to drive along without crashing, so being a third or even fourth wheel was a good thing. Maybe the expression was referring to bicycles or something. But then, if you couldn't balance, training wheels were really important. Ron frowned as he clacked the staple remover's teeth together nervously. He would have to look up -

"_Stoppable!_"

Ron snapped out of his mental quandary, noticing that he was accidentally biting into his own finger with the staple remover. He winced and put it back on the customer service desk as he looked over at Mr. Barkin.

"Yes sir?"

He chided himself for forgetting that Mr. Barkin was now his subordinate. The guy was so big, sometimes it was easy to forget.

"You looked like you were about to tear your finger off there."

"Oh yeah. Thanks for the heads up Mr. B!"

"What was this mission that Wade wanted you to do with Kim, anyway?"

"He didn't really say. He just wanted the two of us to meet at some address and he would give us the details. It was all pretty hush-hush."

Steve nodded. He had more than enough experience with hush-hush missions from his time in the war, not to mention the times he had saved the world during high school. Although he had been annoyed with Kim and Ron's poor attendance records in high school, he could understand the allure of being an international supervillain fighter. The airline peanuts alone would be irresistible, although Steve would never have admitted that little guilty pleasure to his students in health class.

"You know," he said, "I saved the world a few times myself when I was around your age."

"Oh yeah. I remember you mentioning that when I graduated. What were you doing, exactly?"

"Confidential, Stoppable."

Ron frowned at the swift rebuke.

"I see Possible as a sort of protégé, learning the value of discipline and following in my footsteps. Even if she hasn't gone on any missions lately. I saw you the same way, really. I know I ragged on you for never being normal, Stoppable, and I still think you could learn the value of a little social conformity, but the two of you did good things."

"What are you getting at, Mr. B?"

Steve took a moment to decide what he was getting at. He was still Ron's teacher, in a sense – the whole 'being his former student's employee' thing was just a temporary embarrassment that Steve had to live with – and he wanted to impart some life lessons to the boy.

"If this Wade kid is giving you the opportunity to patch things up with Possible, maybe you should take it. You're telling me you don't miss going on those missions?"

Ron wasn't sure. He missed parts of it, at least. And he did miss the time he spent with Kim, but things had changed, and that had not been Ron's choice. Kim was the one who had broken things off. As for the missions themselves, Ron never had as much of an urge to help those in need as Kim did, and he definitely hated dropping out of planes and nearly getting fried by lasers, but he supposed he had developed a certain fondness for parts of their missions. It was nice to foil an evil plot and save the world, even if the process of actually reaching that goal really stunk sometimes.

"Sure, I miss parts of it, but things between me and KP – well, things between us don't exactly exist anymore, you know?"

"And is that the way you want it? You mention her all the time when you're working here. Which, by the way, you don't seem too enthusiastic about doing. Working in retail is a privilege, Stoppable, but you're phoning it in most of the time."

"Hey now! Watch how you talk to your boss!"

Steve reacted instinctively to Ron's assertion of authority. "Sorry sir!" he gulped.

After he recovered his natural sense of superiority over the boy, he pressed on. He knew Stoppable was not mean enough to fire him, and the boy needed a little tough honesty. "I'm just saying, half of what you do here as manager is play games."

"I do not!"

"You're doing it right now!"

Ron looked down in surprise at the controller he was holding in his hands. Apparently he had turned on a game of _Zombie Mayhem_ during his conversation with Mr. Barkin without even noticing it.

"Yeah well, what's your point? These zombies don't kill themselves!"

"My point is that you seem like you're in a rut. Maybe going on this mission with Possible would shake things up for you a little."

Ron abruptly turned off the game and got up from his chair. Normally, Mr. Barkin was a passive and silent sounding board for Ron's complaints, but today he seemed unusually – Ron struggled for the right word – _advicey_. As far as he was concerned, Kim had moved on, and getting a call from Wade about a mission that Kim didn't really even want to go on herself was a reminder of his past that Ron did not want. He hadn't expected to be challenged over his decision.

"I'm going to go take a walk around the floor," he said as he left the kiosk. "Make sure everything's in order. You're in charge of the kiosk while I'm away!"

Mr. Barkin's entire body snapped to attention in a way that reminded Ron of a child who had just heard a faint twinkle of music coming from an approaching ice cream truck. He wasted no time in grabbing the manager's chair as his boss left the kiosk.

"YOU GOT IT, Stoppable!"

Ron wandered into the rest of the exotic animals section and passed through the aisles, making sure all the merchandise had adequate food and water and pointing the occasional customer in the right direction. The store was a little more crowded than it had been the rest of the week, but Ron still had a sense of relative privacy as he passed through the aisles, despite the grunts and howls of various animals in their cages.

He passed the cassowaries – trying to lead new shipments of those things into their store cages was a terrifying experience. He passed the naked mole rats and thought of Rufus, who had elected to stay at home during Ron's shift. He passed the cage where the monitor lizards were kept. It had been repaired from the incident earlier that week when the lizards had escaped and attacked poor Jenkins. Fortunately Jenkins was doing just fine, enjoying a week of recuperation in the Smarty Mart mobile hospital. The employees of the exotic animals department had clauses in their hiring contracts against corporate liability in case of grievous bodily harm – and for good reason.

Other than the occasional animal attacks, being manager of the exotic animals department really wasn't such a bad job, to be fair. But Mr. Barkin had a point. Ron did not feel very enthused about being a manager at Smarty Mart. He had even sent in some applications to Martin Smarty himself for other positions in the corporation a few weeks ago, but he had not heard back from the C.E.O. about any of them yet.

Ron's face scrunched a little in concentration as he thought about those applications. Maybe he _did_ need to shake things up a little.

After making sure that nothing of interest was happening on the sales floor, Ron slipped into a small employee lounge just past the edge of the department. He was pleased to find it empty of employees, and he resisted the urge to fetch and reheat one of the Nacos he kept in the refrigerator as a snacking reserve. Instead, he picked up the phone in the corner and dialed Martin Smarty's personal cell phone number, which he still had written on a note in his wallet from his interaction with the Smarty Mart C.E.O. in days long gone. The phone rang for an interminably long time, but eventually someone picked up.

"Hello?" asked a somewhat annoyed voice.

"Hey, Mr. Smarty, this is your favorite employee!"

There was a long silence.

"Wilson?"

"What? No, not Wilson."

"Reeves?"

"No, _Ron_! Ron Stoppable!"

Another long silence was eventually broken by a tentative reply.

"Oh yes, of course, Ron Stoppable. Over at the Middleton branch. How are things going? Did the monitor lizards get out again?"

"Yes but Jenkins is alright sir, don't you worry. That's actually not why I'm calling."

"I see. And to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"I was wondering if you looked over those job applications I sent a few weeks ago."

As Ron stood waiting through another long silence, he began to wonder if there was some kind of communication problem going on over the line. Clearly, Mr. Smarty was having trouble hearing him.

"You know, the ones that-"

"Oh, I know what you're talking about, Ron."

The tone of Martin Smarty's voice gave Ron the vague impression that he was not about to hear any good news. Still, there was nothing to do but press on. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Ron, you're a likable young man, and you were very good at sales, customer service, stocking, that kind of thing, but I'm not really sure you're the kind of material we're looking for when we hire for positions with more responsibility."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're not responsible. At least you haven't been lately. I _do_ have security cameras set up in all my store branches, Ronald, and I have noticed how often you play games on the clock. It seems like your productivity has dropped off lately. I don't mean to pry, but have you been having personal problems?"

Ron blanched as he realized he had been called out. Not to mention that having one of his idols ask him about personal problems was uncomfortable, to say the least.

"Okay, maybe you have a point there sir, but I can be responsible – what about the time I taught your kid all that cool stuff about how to not be a delinquent and helped shape him up?"

"Arty is in Juvie, Ronald."

Ron coughed. So that wasn't the best angle to take.

"I just think I'm uninspired in the job I have. If I was promoted to a higher position I would totally work harder. You just gotta give me a chance!"

"Ronald," - Martin Smarty hesitated for a moment before he continued - "I didn't want to tell you this at first, but maybe it will give you some perspective."

"Tell me what?"

"The only reason you got the management job you have now was because of Kim Possible. She gave me a call a while ago and asked me to do it as a favor. She vouched for you, you know. She said you would be responsible and take the job seriously, and your job performance until then _had_ been very good, so I was happy to offer you the promotion whether or not I owed Miss Possible any favors."

Ron listened quietly to this new revelation about why he had gotten the job. He was taken aback – Kim had never told him about this. Not that there had really been any opportunities for her to say anything about it. But Ron had certainly never asked her to put in a good word for him. Even stranger was the fact she Ron had only applied for and gotten the management job after he and Kim had already broken up.

"I have to say, Ronald - based on your performance lately, I'm not sure I would still give you the job you have. That being said, you happen to be the only manager at the Middleton store right now – other than _Davis_," Mr. Smarty added with an audible shudder in his voice. "I'm far too busy to deal with hiring more, and I keep hoping you might shape up. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go convince a judge that Arty simply lost control of his skateboard and could not stop it from hitting that man in the head after it flew out of his hands."

"But sir, I-"

Ron heard a clicking noise as Martin Smarty hung up.

A few employees came into the lounge, tittering and laughing amongst each other over some secret joke, but Ron could tell they were not laughing at him. Fortunately, they had narrowly missed his embarrassing phone conversation.

Ron watched with slumped shoulders as one of the employees went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a couple of Nacos that Ron had been saving for later. The teen unwrapped the Naco and put it in the microwave. Normally Ron would have objected. Not to mention that as the only manager present in the store, he could get them in trouble for taking a break without asking permission. But right now, Ron felt too deflated to even say anything.

The employees sat down at a table and began to eat as Ron left the lounge and shambled listlessly down one of the exotic animal aisles, back to the customer service kiosk.

"Young man," said a passing customer.

Ron waved her off apathetically. "Aisle three," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"What you're looking for, it – I – look, I'm busy, sheesh!"

Ron left the shocked customer behind as he arrived at the kiosk, where Mr. Barkin was sitting and playing a game of _Zombie Mayhem_. Steve shut the console down and put away his controller before Ron could notice that he had briefly given into his shameful gaming curiosity.

"What's the problem, Stoppable? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"I got turned down for those positions I applied for," said Ron as he entered the kiosk and joined his bulky employee. He considered playing a game to cheer himself up a little, but decided he wasn't really in the mood. That, and the controller looked really sweaty for some inexplicable reason.

"So what are you going to do now?" Barkin asked him.

Ron resisted the urge to tell his former teacher that he would be going to Disneyland. He sat in a different chair than usual, not noticing that Barkin had stolen the one that Ron had unofficially designated as the manager's chair, and stared out over his Smarty Mart domain.

Why had Kim gotten him this job? Did she feel sorry for him? Did she think he couldn't have gotten it himself? And, if she was actually right, did that mean that Ron should thank her or feel insulted?

Ron had tried to shake things up a little, just like Barkin said, but he found himself a bit shaken up by what had just happened. He felt an urge to ask Kim why she'd give him the job without telling him. The easiest way to do that would be to meet her while they were on the mission, he supposed. And now that he knew his attempts to move on from his managerial job had been shot down, he was feeling a little irked. Ron got up from his chair, almost radiating with a sudden aura of conviction. Steve raised an eyebrow as his manager looked down at him resolutely.

"I'm going to go on that mission with Kim, right now."

Steve watched as Ron opened up the small door in the counter that led out of the kiosk.

"Um, Stoppable – you still have three hours left on your shift."

Ron slapped a hand to his head.

"Can you cover for me?"

Steve slapped a hand to his head. Partly because he saw the question coming right before Ron had asked it, and partly because he knew he would say yes. A few hours of peace and quiet, he could deal with – it was better than hearing Ron whining incessantly about how his center hadn't held. Steve had always felt a little guilty about giving Ron that discouraging little rant back during his student's high school graduation, even if Ron seemed to agree with him now that the boy had passed into the crushing despair of adulthood.

Maybe Steve had made up for the whole 'center will not hold' thing by pushing Ron in the right direction now. And to be honest, he always thought Kim and Ron worked best as a team.

XX

The Upperton Arena's parking lot was filled to the brim whenever there was a sporting event going on, but it was nearly empty when Kim arrived in the Sloth. She had no problem finding a parking space, and sat for a couple of minutes listening to a song playing on Britina's latest CD before she turned off the ignition.

The main entrances to the Upperton Arena were locked since there were no events going on, but a few of the side doors were open for employees who still needed to work. Kim took one of the side doors and passed through several back offices and hallways before she found one that led into the empty arena itself. Rows and rows of silent seats stared down at Kim as she entered the vaulted room and caught the lingering scent of sweat in the air.

Monique often worked from home, but sometimes she had to go on-site for her work. She worked a number of odd fashion-related jobs in the time that she did not spend focusing on her college work. Some counted towards her classes, and some were purely for the money. Over the last semester, however, she had managed to combine two of her interests together when she found a job as a fashion designer for the Global Wrestling Association.

Monique had explained, to Kim's mild surprise and ultimate indifference, that the outfit a wrestler wore was an integral part of his stage persona. Kim was never a big fan of the wrestling – not the way Monique and Ron were – but she was happy to see Monique engaged in something that made her happy.

"Hey Monique!" she called over to her girlfriend, who was sitting at a table just outside of the ring in the center of the arena.

Monique looked over her back. "Finally decided to get your butt out of that bed and pay me a visit, huh?"

Kim gave her a hug and nodded at the two wrestlers in the ring, who had stopped grappling each other and walked over to the ropes to greet the new arrival. Their presence explained the sweaty smell in the otherwise empty arena. Kim wrinkled her nose a little.

"Great. Check it out, Steve - another lady to treat us like pieces of meat," said Pain King.

Steel Toe laughed and slapped his friend and fellow wrestler on the back with a beefy hand. "It's all part of the job, Paul. Gotta bring home the bacon!"

"Enough talk, you two!" Monique twirled her hand around to indicate that she wanted the two of them to get back to wrestling. "Really get into it this time, move your arms around more so I can see what it looks like. And tell me if the fabric feels comfortable and fits well!"

Monique watched at Pain King and Steel Toe returned to their fight. A stereo was placed below one of the padded ropes that lined the edge of the ring, and Steel Toe leaned down to flip it back on, blaring out rock music into the empty arena. The two wrestlers liked a little music to get them pumped up when they were practicing.

And, in this case, testing out fashions at the same time. They were both wearing wrestling uniforms that Monique had designed for them, and today it was time to put them to the test and see what they looked like in action. If Monique didn't like what she saw, or if either of the two wrestlers had any complaints, it was back to the drawing boards. The G.W.A. had gotten more receptive to their wrestler's needs ever since the debacle with Jackie Oakes and that magic amulet. They had been getting more creative, as well.

"So what do you think?" she asked Kim.

Kim looked over the wrestlers with an appraising eye.

"Hot! I think I'm going back to guys now, sorry Monique."

"As if. What do you think of their outfits, miss cheeky?"

"Fantastic, as usual. I don't remember seeing them with those masks before, though."

"Ned came up with those. He's been watching a lot of Mexican Wrestling lately and he wanted to experiment a little. Draw in some new fans, shake up the routine, you know. I gotta say, I never woulda guessed, but the boy is a good manager. I think the G.W.A.'s been making some interesting changes ever since they bought Jackie Oates out of the corporation. I'm hoping Ned will stick around for a while."

"And those masks give you more to design," Kim pointed out.

"Oh yeah. No complaints here!"

Kim sat down next at the table next to Monique and looked at some of the designs and extra outfits her girlfriend had strewn across the table. She wondered if Monique had to pick up the sweaty outfits once Steel Toe and Pain King changed out of them to put on new ones for testing; that certainly didn't seem like one of the high points of a job as wrestling fashion designer.

"Hello ladies!" came a voice from between the two of them.

Kim arched her head around to find that Ned had walked up behind them and was watching the two wrestlers trying to pin each other in the ring. He held a box in his hands, from which a pleasant smell was emanating. "Hey, speak of the devil," she said. She arched her head in the direction of the wrestling ring. "Nice masks there. I heard they were your idea."

"Affirmative! I have recently been inspired by public access television to experiment in the fine art of _lucha libre._ Perhaps, after quitting Bueno Nacho, I still felt a longing for the warm embrace of authentic Mexican tradition."

"Bueno Nacho was authentic Mexican tradition?" asked Monique skeptically.

Ned gasped, clearly taken aback by Monique's insinuation that Bueno Nacho was not real Mexican cuisine "Hold your tongue!" he told her.

Kim shook her head at Monique in mock disappointment, and Monique held up her hands in surrender at the two of them as she conceded her mistake. If Ron had been around, Kim thought, he would have been downright shocked by the comment.

"I think the masks are _muy caliente_," said Ned as he watched the wrestlers in the ring, trying to be diplomatic with Monique after admonishing her for her faux pas. "The real test will be the match we have here in a couple weeks. If the audience seems to like the changes, I think we'll be very successful when Steel Toe and Pain King hit the road after that."

Monique nudged Kim as she listened to Ned mentioning the upcoming Upperton match. "You _will_ be going to that match with me, right Kim? It'll be right here in the Arena, and I can get us cheap front row tickets! Isn't that right Ned?" she asked with a strategic flutter of her eyelashes.

Monique was not exactly right, but Ned nodded with great reluctance. It was hard to turn down a beautiful woman, even if it meant abusing his powers as a recently-hired G.W.A. road manager.

"Of course I'll come," said Kim.

She tried to sound enthusiastic; hopefully it was convincing enough for Mon. She had never been a big fan of wrestling, but she was happy to go if she had Monique for company, especially since it made her girlfriend happy.

"Oh, and today is your lucky day," said Ned. "I got some cupcakes from the new place that opened up downtown. They're absolutely delicious!"

Ned set the box he had been holding down on the desk between Monique and Kim. Monique looked a little miffed that Ned had put the box directly on top of the notes that she had obviously been writing, but after she opened up the box's lid, the smell of the cupcakes was so enticing that she wouldn't help but grab one for herself.

Kim grabbed her own, wondering if they were from the same place where her classmate in the study hall the other day had gotten his cupcake. Wherever it was, it seemed to be popular. She bit into the cupcake, making sure to get a lot of frosting in her mouthful. The taste was not quite as amazing as the smell, but it was still very good. As a matter of fact, although Kim hadn't eaten any of Ron's baking in a while, she wondered if it was almost as good as his stuff. Or could it be better? Was that even possible?

"So tell me Kim," said Monique as she finished her cupcake with amazing speed and pushed the box aside to return to her design notes, "you given any thought to that mission Wade was talking about?"

"Yes, I did give it some thought. Why, what do you think about it?"

Monique watched Steel Toe and Pain King grappling for a few moments before she answered. Kim couldn't tell if she was thinking about what to say, or if she was just distracted by her fabrics and fashions being showcased over rippling pectoral muscles.

"It's really up to you, honey."

Her girlfriend was right, of course, but Kim had been hoping for more of a definite answer.

She had, in fact, given some thought to Wade's call the other night. She had turned Wade down almost reflexively after hearing that Ron would be going along, although Wade had been unclear about whether he had actually gotten Ron to agree to go along in the first place. It wasn't that Kim was still tied up over what had happened between them – she had been the one to break up with Ron, after all – but things had gone sour after that. And as far as Kim was concerned, that had _not_ been her doing.

Still, the fact remained that Wade had a mission for her. Maybe it was just an attempt on his part to try to throw her together with Ron again so they could be friends. That would explain Wade's evasiveness when she had asked for details about the mission. But if Wade had called her, there was most likely someone who needed help, or someone who needed defeating. Or both. She couldn't risk turning down someone in need - Ron or no Ron, Kim felt an obligation to know the sitch.

"I think I'm going to go," she told Monique. "Or at least talk to Wade about it more. I kind of figured he's been handling things with Global Justice lately, so if he's calling me, it could be that he really needs help with something. You don't mind if I end up taking off for most of this weekend, do you?"

"That's cool with me. You gotta do what you gotta do."

"Alright. I guess I might as well give him a call now, then."

Kim was about to fish the Kimmunicator out of her pocket when she realized that she had left it at the apartment. It was a little unsettling just how out of the loop she was with the whole mission thing. She would just have to call Wade the old-fashioned way.

"I'm going to sneak off over there in the stands so I can hear the conversation better," said Kim as the wrestlers grunted and groaned on stage to the sound of crashing hard rock music.

Monique nodded and watched as her girlfriend left the desk to give Wade a call on her cell phone. She had known that Kim would accept the mission eventually, even if she had been reluctant the other night.

What Monique did not know, however, was how _she_ felt about Kim going on a mission. She knew freak fighting, as Bonnie Rockwaller had so eloquently put it in the past, had been part of Kim's life for a long time. She knew that quitting the missions had somehow been a result of what had happened between her and Ron. Monique wanted to see Kim rediscover her passion for helping people, and she understood that passion even if it didn't really inspire her the way it inspired Kim.

But on the other hand, Monique did not like to see Kim in danger. A part of her had been happy when Kim had given up her missions and thrown herself into college studies and everyday life instead. And she knew that Kim missed Ron's company, and heck - she missed Ron's company herself. Monique had never been as close to Ron as Kim, and she lacked the long history with the boy, but Ron had a certain charm and warmth that Monique always enjoyed. It was unfortunate that he had reacted to the breakup so badly.

But there was something else. Monique reluctantly recognized that, somewhere within her, a pang of worry kept flaring up about the idea of Kim and Ron going on a mission together. Monique was sure the two of them were over. Almost completely sure. After all, Kim was with her now - they even lived together. There was no reason for her to worry about Kim going on a mission. Only good could come of it. At worst, Kim and Ron would have an awkward weekend together, it would end, and things would be the go back to the way they had been between those two ever since the breakup. At best, it would turn out that time had healed old wounds, and perhaps the three of them could hang out again. No problems there.

_So why_, Monique pointedly asked herself, _are you so nervous all of a sudden?_

XX

Wade smiled as he twirled in his chair and listened to the call coming through one of his computers. He had been playing a game of _Everlot_, which was paused on another computer monitor. His tiny wizard avatar wielded a staff that crackled with energy, frozen in mid-strike against a vicious cave troll. Wade did not mind the interruption to his gaming; it was almost lunch time, and he was happy to get a call from Kim Possible.

"You won't regret this," he told Kim.

"Yeah, we'll see about that. You're sure Ron is going too?"

"He called me just a little while before you did. He's ready when you are."

"Okay, so what's the sitch?"

Wade coasted his desk chair over to a third monitor and quickly brought up a map of Upperton on which a red dot was flashing. "I'm going to give you an address – you and Ron can meet up with me there for lunch and we can talk about the mission details."

"Getting out of the room today today, are we?"

"Come on Kim. It's not _that_ surprising anymore."

"Well, I'll be happy to see you again. It's been a while."

"And what about Ron?"

"Like I said – we'll see."

Wade sighed. At least for now, that was the best response he could hope for.

He read out the address to Kim and said goodbye before returning to his game. The cave troll on the screen unfroze, only to receive a white-hot energy staff to the face and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Wade would have to wrap up the game, call Ron back to confirm that the mission was on, and give him the address.

He could not resist killing a few more trolls, however. What else could you do when you were so close to a level up? Wade's wizard had his fill of carnage and collected his loot, and Wade was about to get up from his chair after signing off when he received another incoming call. A familiar face popped up on one of the monitors as Wade accepted it.

"Hi Dr. Director. Good timing."

"Oh?"

"I just got off the phone with Kim. The two of them both agreed to do the mission."

"Excellent! You're meeting them now?"

"Yep. I'll let you know how it goes."

Dr. Director looked back into the control room behind her at the sound of a loud crash. "Alright Wade, keep me notified of any developments. One of the interns just got a fly-on-the-wall cam stuck up his nose again, so I have to go."

Wade closed the connection and got up to leave. He was looking forward to seeing Kim and Ron again, and he knew that he was even more eager to see them going on a mission than Dr. Director. The only question now was whether or not he could tell Kim about the mission itself without getting shot down on the spot.

One way or the other, he was about to find out.

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - Things will get a rolling a little more starting in the next chapter, since I wanted to establish where Kim, Ron, and Monique were and how their lives were going in these first three. Hopefully you guys like it so far._

_Also, any of you guys fans of Kim and Monique? I have already lost a couple of K/R readers who weren't really interested in reading about a relationship between the two of them, which is fine, but I have no idea if I am picking up any new readers who are actually into Kim and Monique or alternate pairings in general (of which there will be some more coming up eventually). Not that the whole point of this story is pairings or anything, but I'd be interested in getting a review or two from people who are into those and hearing what they think so far._


	4. Half Baked

**Half Baked**

XX

Upperton was a beautiful city, and the college campus in particular was gorgeous enough that Kim sometimes found herself walking aimlessly around just to enjoy the atmosphere. However, there were two things she disliked about Upperton. Number one was that, while she was there, she sometimes got nostalgic about Middleton and home, even though they weren't that far away.

Number two was the parking.

Wade had given her the location where he wanted to meet and talk about the mission, which happened to be near the center of downtown Upperton on an older street lined with a number of historic buildings. Kim was familiar with the street, having shopped there with Monique on occasion. Unfortunately, finding parking in downtown Upperton was about as likely as convincing Monkey Fist to pull off a reptile-themed scheme once in a while. Kim had forgotten to take this fact into account before leaving to meet Wade, and as she covered the last block to their rendezvous, she hoped she wasn't arriving too late.

Her worries about punctuality disappeared in a flash when she turned a corner and saw something even more worrying. Something in the form of a blond-haired boy.

Kim stopped for a moment and steeled herself for her first meeting with Ron in months. He looked the same as he always did, and Kim knew that he wouldn't have changed that much since she last saw him. It was just that, to her, it felt like it had been forever. Ron was sitting at a circular black table, set up beside several others within a patio circled by iron fencing. The patio lay in front of what looked like some kind of cafe. An opened umbrella jutted up from the center of the table, sheltering Ron even though the overcast sky was neither raining nor shining. He had not seen her yet.

By the time he _did_ notice her, Kim was standing about a foot away from him. He looked up and nearly fell out of his seat in surprise.

"KP! I didn't see you there," he stammered as he got up from his seat.

"Hey Ron. Long time no see."

"You can say that again."

Kim gave Ron a smile which was returned by one of his own. To Kim, both their smiles seemed a little forced. A little artificial. Was she happy to see him again? It was hard to tell under the thick blanket of nervous silence that was in the process of suffocating them both. As the two of them stood and continued smiling, Kim began to realize just how awkward this first reunion was going to be. She couldn't imagine what their actual mission would be like.

Having failed to think of anything else to say, Kim looked behind Ron at the cafe. She didn't remember seeing it on this street the last time she and Monique had been around, so she decided it must be a new place. She wondered if Wade wanted to try it out while they were discussing their mission, although she was surprised that Ron hadn't persuaded him to go to one of the several Bueno Nachos scattered across Upperton. A moment after she looked through the cafe's windows, Kim looked up at the sign above the door.

"What's wrong?" asked Ron.

Kim narrowed her eyes as she read the sign, while Ron followed her gaze and gasped.

"What," said Kim, "you've been sitting there this whole time and didn't notice where you were?"

"Oh, I saw it when I got here. But I forgot and just remembered again."

Kim rolled her eyes. She was starting to get a creeping suspicion about why Wade had been so tight-lipped on the mission's details. Whatever was going on, Kim had the feeling that she was going to be very angry in the near future.

XX

"By the way, how did things go at the warehouse the other day? Any helpful info?"

Drakken looked up from his newest piece of equipment at the sound of his partner's voice.

"What do you think, Hank?"

Hank Perkins frowned. He knew the answer to that question from the tone of Drakken's voice, but the fact that a pair of tiny blue hands had temporarily clenched in frustration at the mention of the warehouse was also a good tipoff.

"Perhaps we should fire that Assad character," he suggested.

"You were the one who hired him!"

"That's true, although in my defense, he had some very good references and past work experience. But you know, they always told us in law school that a resume only gets you as far as the door!"

In the time Drakken had spent with Hank, he had learned to find his aphorisms both amusing and annoying depending on his mood. Today, Drakken wasn't sure what mood he was in. The warehouse incident was still bugging him, to be sure, but that would be taken care of soon enough. Hopefully today, in fact. And, at the moment, he was too absorbed in his shiny new toy to be worried about recent setbacks.

Drakken returned to the device he was inspecting as he thought about Hank's suggestion. He should fire Assad. After all, the man had let their warehouse get infiltrated under his watch, not to mention the stolen shipment the other week, and Drakken's budget only had so much money allocated for loading dock doors. Then again, he had never budgeted in the past. There would be no budget now if it wasn't for Hank Perkins creating one. One of the benefits of working with someone who had such a sharp mind for business, Drakken supposed.

In the olden days, Drakken would have meted out punishment on Assad in a form far worse than a simple firing. Perhaps something with actual fire, although Drakken knew he wasn't as ruthless as that Gemini character, at least from what he had read in his villain's periodicals. Still, why hadn't he fired Assad earlier that week? Perhaps he was getting soft. Or perhaps long years of supervillainy were making him realize that replacing one incompetent henchman with another incompetent henchman got you, well – an incompetent henchman.

"How does it look?" asked Hank as he peered over Drakken's shoulder at the newly-made piece of equipment. Not _that_ new, technically, but Drakken had made some upgrades recently.

"Excellent," Drakken replied.

The two of them stared in rapt anticipation, their faces distorted with glee, as Drakken flipped a lever on the front of the machine and let out a mad cackle. A number of plastic buttons lit up with more colors than a bundle of Christmas lights. Electronic readouts flashed with information, power levels rose to ridiculously unsafe levels, lights in the room began to flicker, and the dials of various obscure meters swung to their limits. A glass viewing window in the center of the bulky piece of equipment let out a bright orange glow as the interior of the machine grew hotter.

Testing out a new invention had always been one of Drakken's favorite moments in life.

Just when it looked like the machine was about to explode and demolish the entire building in a towering mushroom cloud, the orange glow stopped abruptly as the machine turned off with a cheery 'ding!'. Drakken licked his lips as he put on a pair of baking gloves and opened the front. His grin of anticipation changed to a crestfallen frown, however, when he pulled out the baking tray and found a pile of ashes instead of the cupcakes he had been expecting.

Hank stared at the ashes with a rueful smile. "The Bakinator 2000 _did_ seem like overkill for a baking oven," he said. "And the name makes you think it's for making bacon, you know."

"_Nnngh!_ Not being supportive!"

"Sorry."

Drakken had to admit that Hank might have a point. The transition from supervillain to bakery owner had been a bit rougher than Drakken had anticipated, and sometimes it was tough to quell those old instincts. Drakken was still trying to teach himself that not everything needed as much power as humanly possible. Until then, they would have to keep using the regular oven at the warehouse. Drakken would have been designing his Bakinator 2000 at the warehouse, since it would eventually be installed there once they began centralizing their operations more, but he liked to spend as little time as possible around Assad, who had an annoying combination of obsequiousness and a tendency to talk incessantly about his personal life.

"I'll have to install a lower minimum power level," said Drakken as he fiddled with the Bakinator.

"You could keep using the regular baking oven at the warehouse. There's nothing wrong with it, you know."

"Hold your tongue."

Before Drakken could start making some adjustments to his baking oven blueprint on a nearby table, he and Hank were interrupted by a teenager who burst through the employee doors and into the room. "Sir!" he said. "It looks like the red-head girl and the goofy-looking boy you wanted me to watch out for just got here."

"Thank you, whatever your name is."

Drakken and Hank brushed past the teen and left the expansive employee room before the teen could tell them his name. The employee room opened up into a small working area behind some counters and registers where orders were taken and cupcakes and coffee were sold. The counters overlooked the cozy cafe area itself, where Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable were standing in the middle of the room. Drakken stepped out from behind the counters, extending a hand to greet Kim Possible, when she leaped back and threw up her fists in a fighting stance.

"Drakken!" she spat. "What's going on here? Another bakery? What are you planning now?"

"Probably something half baked," laughed Ron.

"Not now, Ron."

"Sorry."

Drakken was about to protest his teen foe's baseless accusations when he began to wonder if she was even a teen anymore. He hadn't seen her in a long time – ever since the Warlordians, really. Before he could ask, the bakery door opened and Wade Load came running in, gasping for breath. By this time, the other customers sitting around the room were becoming noticeably agitated at all the interruptions to their snacking.

"Hey guys," said Wade. "Sorry I'm late, but man – Upperton has no parking anywhere!"

"Do you even have a license?" asked Drakken.

Wade's answer trailed off as he noticed the look that Kim was giving him. If she had aimed the look at a tray of food, it would have produced an ashy result very similar to cupcakes created by the Bakinator 2000. Everyone in the room – Wade, Drakken, Hank, Ron, and various random customers alike – couldn't help but feel the prickly change in atmosphere.

"Hehehe," Ron chuckled nervously. "Wade – you got some 'splainin' to do!"

XX

Drakken took a step forward in between Kim Possible and Wade, hoping to defuse the situation before any more of a scene was made in front of his valuable customers.

"Kim Possible, Wade, sidekick whose name escapes me at the moment – please," said Drakken as he motioned to an empty booth. "Please, take a seat and I will explain everything."

Kim reluctantly sat down on one side of the booth and was immediately crowded into the corner by the window as Ron and Wade piled in. Drakken and Hank took a seat in the opposite side. The dining patio in front of the store could be seen through the booth's window, and beyond that, cars zipped by on the busy city street. Inside the bakery, however, the atmosphere was calm and pleasant. That is if Kim Possible's expression was not taken into account as a part of the atmosphere.

"First of all," said Drakken, "I'd like to welcome you all to my fine dining establishment: Doctor D Cups!"

"You should really consider changing that name, dude," said Ron.

"Why?"

The table was silent.

"Well, anyway, as I'm sure you all know already, I became a changed man after saving the world with the two of you," explained Drakken as he nodded at Kim and Ron. "It wasn't long before I forsook the path of supervillainy and chose to dedicate my life to legitimate business pursuits. And who better to join me in this noble path than a former partner in evil?"

Drakken smiled at Hank Perkins and gave his hand a squeeze, which caused three different sets of eyebrows to raise simultaneously on the other side of the booth.

"Hank and I reunited after I decided on my new path, and I told him I was interested in entering the restaurant business again, seeing as it worked so well when we were using it as a front for inducing the next Ice Age with those Atmosphreezers."

"It worked well?" asked Kim. "Didn't we blow up your cupcake making facility?"

"Yes, well, that was due to the evil scheming. The business itself was booming! Er, no pun intended."

"Sooo, let me get this straight," Kim continued with a smirk. "Your new and improved business plan is to – uh - not get blown up?"

"That is an excellent foundation to work from," said Hank. "But you know, I believe I told Drew here that his many defeats were just misunderstood opportunities. Clearly, he took that to heart!"

Hank received another warm smile from Drakken. "Indeed, Perky Werky. That kind of advice is why I turned to you in my new endeavor. And that, Kim Possible, is how we ended up deciding to co-found this new combination bakery and café."

Drakken thought of something and laughed as he looked back from Hank to his former teen foes. "You know, he wanted to name our little operation Hank's Gourmet Cupcakes_,_ like last time, but I convinced him that Doctor D Cups had a more authoritative sound. A fuller, bigger sound. Not to mention that my shampoo has been off the market for a while now, so name brand association shouldn't be a problem anymore. But that cupcake graphic we used in place of the letter 'u' on the sign outside really grabs the eye, don't you think?"

Kim, Ron and Wade weren't sure which of them Drakken was talking to, but they nodded politely.

"Um, maybe you could at least change it to Doctor D's Cups, with an apostrophe and an 's'?" suggested Ron.

"I don't understand what problem you have with the name," said Drakken, a little petulantly. "I think it's stylish. Besides, 'D Cups' is the brand name we chose for our cupcakes. We thought it would be a good idea to sell coffee as well, but our cupcakes are our signature item."

"Is it really a signature item if it's your _only_ item?" Kim wondered aloud.

"Yeah, you should really have more than just cupcakes," said Ron. "Why limit yourself?"

"Work with what you know!" Hank said.

"Exactly. So Hank and I joined forces in a business relationship and used our past experience together. And I suppose as time went on, our relationship turned into something much deeper. Life is just funny that way!"

Drakken looked lovingly at Hank, who loosened his tie a little in embarrassment. As their audience watched with increasing horror, Drakken made some kind of cooing baby sound at Hank and leaned forward to pull his partner in business and love closer, locking him into a deep kiss. Hank resisted for a moment, wanting to protest that public displays of affection were not very professional, but the lure of Drakken's touch was too much to resist.

Kim restrained a 'bluugh!' of revulsion so that it came out of her mouth quietly enough to go unnoticed. She knew it was rude, but it was a reflexive reaction.

"I'm surprised at you, KP."

Apparently Ron _had_ noticed it.

"I would have thought you'd be more tolerant, considering your current, uh, romantic sitch!"

Kim rolled her eyes at Ron. "That's not why I'm grossed out, Ron. I'm grossed out because it's _Drakken_."

"Oh."

Ron stared at the fish-like face that Drakken was making as he continued to kiss Hank.

"Hmm, yeah, point taken."

"What are you two saying?" asked Drakken in a suspicious tone as he broke off the kiss. "You don't think I can get my groove on once in a while? I'll have you know that I can be quite the romantic when the occasion calls for it!"

"What does Shego think of the two of you together?" asked Kim. It was a blunt question, but she was trying to change the subject from Drakken's romantic mojo or lack thereof. She had been totally unaware that Drakken and Hank Perkins were in a relationship until now – and from Wade's expression, it looked like he had been caught by surprise as well. Sometimes Kim forgot that she had not seen Drakken and Shego at all since they had helped in saving the world during her high school graduation. Even when she and Ron had still been doing missions on their freshmen year, the two of them had dropped off the map.

"It's complicated," said Drakken.

A stony expression seemed to shut down further conversation, and before Kim could consider pressing him for any more information, he snapped his fingers at one of his employees over by the counters. "You there," he barked, "get us some cupcakes!"

The group fell silent, and Kim sniffed the air in the bakery. A familiar sent hung in the air around her, and while she had noticed it when she came into the room, she had been too busy by the appearance of Drakken and Hank Perkins to make much of a note of it. This place, she thought, must be where all those cupcakes she had been seeing on campus were coming from. Perhaps one of Drakken's schemes was actually turning out to be successful. Stranger things had happened.

The server arrived with a plate of cupcakes for the table, and Drakken grabbed one for himself and took a big bite before anyone had even reached for theirs. "I can't wait for you all to get a big mouthful of my D Cups!" he exclaimed, spraying crumbs on his guests.

Kim grimaced as a few crumbs bounced off her face. "Good God," she said, glaring at Wade. "Did you bring me here to torture me?"

Wade grinned, a little apologetically, and reached for his own cupcake. The smell was so delicious that even though Kim was not particularly hungry, she couldn't help but take one of her own. Ron, of course, needed no invitation.

"Drakken," said Wade as he swallowed a bite, "maybe you could get to the reason you called me to arrange a meeting with Kim Possible?"

"Oh yes. Well, you see, Hank and I set up this little shop in Upperton to test our product and see how well it turned out. And I am pleased to say that we've been running quite a successful little operation here. We've been planning on opening some new branches in Middleton, Lowerton, perhaps Go City, and possibly even Cleveland -"

"Why Cleveland?" asked Ron.

"Any successful cupcake-centered business must have a location in Cleveland. Everyone knows this."

Wade, Ron, and Kim shot each other quizzical looks.

"As I was saying, we are trying to expand our operation and see if we can establish a presence in a few other locations and turn this into a franchise."

"It's good to keep abreast of the competition," added Hank.

Ron stroke his chin, deep in thought. "I don't know," he pointed out, "More Doctor D Cups might be quite a handful."

Drakken slammed his fist on the table. "No more interruptions!" he snapped.

The booth fell silent, and a number of customers looked over at the source of the loud voice before returning to their own conversations.

"Now - in order to expand, we have already built a warehouse in Middleton which will be our center for production, distribution, and administration, and we are in the process of setting up the first of our secondary bakery locations. Unfortunately, we've hit a bit of a snag. Our warehouse has been attacked twice now by a group of unknown assailants. They keep stealing our cupcake shipments to the other branches, and while they have no chance of shutting us down, it is getting to be _quite_ the annoyance.

"Which is why I wanted to ask for your help, Kim Possible."

Kim mulled over Drakken's proposition. It immediately struck her as fishy, but it was also strange enough that she could not help but feel interested. "Why don't you just call the police?" she asked. "This isn't exactly on par with the missions I usually take."

"That may be, but years of being foiled by your incessant do-gooder nature has taught me you are the best in your business. I do not trust the police to do a competent job, whereas I know that you will be able to find out who these people are, and why they insist on being all up in _my_ business."

The flattery was blatant, but still, Kim couldn't help but feel flattered. Drakken had a point – she could do anything, and catching a bunch of small time cupcake thieves was pretty low on that list. While she knew Drakken had succeeded in stroking her ego a little, Kim wasn't taken in just yet.

"What's in this for me?" she asked.

"Well, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you helped my legitimate business succeed, thereby making sure that Hank and I are not forced to revert to our old, evil ways."

"So you're threatening to become a supervillain if I don't help you?"

Drakken sputtered a little as he realized he wasn't quite sure what he was threatening.

"Well, not exactly, I just – I mean, you never know! Desperate times call for desperate measures. Just as I was pushed into a life of villainy due to constant bullying and lack of appreciation for my genius, so could I be pushed back into it if this venture fails to-"

"Oh please," said Kim, her warm reaction to Drakken's flattery rapidly changing to exasperation. "Can it, Drakken."

"Okay, fine. I'll pay you, are you happy?"

"How much?"

"Fifty dollars!" Drakken said with a triumphant shout.

Kim stared blankly.

Noticing her expression, Hank put his hand on Drakken's shoulder, indicating that he would handle the issue. He leaned in confidentially towards Kim. "One hundred," he said with a knowing whisper and a wink. "We're a little strapped for cash now that we've been working on expansions, but I think we can make an exception when it comes to someone with skills as valuable as yours."

Ron had long since finished his cupcake, and was working on a few of the extra ones that were still sitting on the plate. He knew he'd have to buy a few extra to bring to Rufus, who had elected to hang out back at home while Ron got the down low on the mission. He listened to Kim and Drakken's talk of payment with interest – was Kim demanding payment because it was Drakken? Or had she warmed up to the idea of charging for her services?

"I didn't think you'd be asking for a payout," he said.

Kim shrugged. "College doesn't pay for itself, Ron."

Something about the tone of the comment put Ron off a little. As if Kim even needed to pay for college – she probably had a scholarship anyway. He returned to eating quietly.

"Wade," said Kim as she stepped out from the booth, "I need to talk to you outside."

"Sure. Please excuse us for a moment, guys."

Drakken and Hank nodded, while Ron shrugged indifferently and dug in to another cupcake.

Kim stepped outside into the small dining patio in front of the bakery, leaning against the iron fencing that separated it from the sidewalk. Wade followed her out and waited for her to voice her thoughts, half expecting some kind of tirade, although it was a good sign that she had actually been having a conversation with Drakken about the mission in the first place.

"What's the deal, Wade? Why are you trying to get me to do a mission for Drakken all of a sudden?"

"Drakken contacted me, and Global Justice agreed that it might be a good idea for you to go along with it and see what was up. Make sure this whole bakery thing isn't just a front for some world domination plan like it was last time. You already know Drakken's been keeping a low profile, and Global Justice hasn't heard much more from him than you have, so we were hoping you would get back into the game and check things out."

"And why does Global Justice need my help _now_, when they've been fine with doing their own thing for more than a year?"

"You have a lot of experience with Drakken," said Wade. "I think Dr. Director trusts your instincts in figuring out whether he's up to no good. And let's face it Kim, you're better than any single Global Justice agent at fighting supervillains and saving the world. I don't know if Dr. Director would admit that, but it's true. They probably tried to handle things without you and they're realizing they need you in the fold."

Kim knew that Wade was skirting the topic of why she had stopped going on the missions in the first place. Partly it was because of college, because Kim wanted to focus on something else. But she had wanted to focus on something else, in large part, because of the fallout of what had happened with Ron. And now Kim wanted to ask one last question. She felt a twinge of guilt for asking it – it was something that went without saying in the past – but things had changed.

"Why does Ron need to go on this mission with me?"

Wade was silent for a moment. The dining patio of the bakery was empty of customers, leaving the two of them with some privacy, although they had to speak up over the honks and screeches of cars passing on the nearby street. Kim waited for an answer.

Global Justice had specifically asked Wade to get Ron to go on the mission with Kim, but Wade wasn't sure if it was the best time to explain to her what their reasoning was. Kim needed confidence, and he did not want to undermine it. He knew that things were still sore between his two old friends, and perhaps she was not interested in rekindling her friendship with Ron. The last few times Wade had talked to her in the not so recent past, she had completely shut down the conversation when the topic turned to Ron.

"Can you just think of it as a favor? For me?" asked Wade.

Kim looked him over. It took a moment, but she finally nodded her head in assent.

"Great," said Wade. He couldn't help but grin at his success. "In that case, I think Drakken has some specific ideas about how to catch the cupcake thieves."

"You know, you should have just told me you wanted me to do a mission for Drakken before we got to this ridiculous bakery," Kim said as she looked up at the sign.

"Maybe, but I didn't think you'd jump at the idea of doing a mission for him. And I just used the phrase 'catch the cupcake thieves', Kim. I was worried you'd just laugh at me and hang up if I explained it over the Kimmunicator. I hadn't talked to you in a long time, after all."

Kim had to admit that Wade had a point. She would definitely be a lot more skeptical of going on such a ridiculous mission if she didn't have her suspicions that Drakken really _did_ had something up his sleeve. But then, his cupcakes were amazing. Maybe she'd have to demand a few boxes in payment, since her cash reward would be so paltry. Which normally wasn't something Kim would ever demand, but if she was going to be doing Drakken a favor, her usual moral scruples relaxed a little.

"Okay, so maybe I would have laughed at you," she admitted as the two of them walked back into the bakery. "But I am glad to see you again, Wade."

"Me too."

"Now, let's see what ideas Drakken's got cooking."

XX

Inside the bakery, Ron was standing at the counter, looking at the bakery's numerous cupcake types and occasionally giving the cashier tips on good baking technique, as well as suggestions on what they could sell beyond cupcakes. The cashier nodded haplessly. He did not bake anything, but the sandy-haired young man talking to him had been talking to his boss earlier. Which meant he could be important, so the cashier did not want to interrupt the baking lecture.

Hank and Drakken smiled when they saw Kim Possible and her tech genius friend finish their conversation outside and return to the booth. Kim took a seat and gave her old foe a critical look, just for a moment, before speaking.

"Alright, Drakken," she said. "I'll help you out"

Drakken clapped his tiny hands together and wrung them excitedly.

"Wonderful!"

"So what's the plan?"

"Very well," said Drakken as he leaned in closer. "Hank and I have noticed that the last two times we were attacked by these intruders, they hit us about when we were packing a shipment of cupcakes to send to our little bakery here in Upperton. We make our cupcakes at the warehouse and ship them here at intervals, and we are on the verge of opening our satellite locations in our expansion. We would like to handle the creation and distribution of all our cupcakes from a central location in the Middleton warehouse."

"That's a bad idea," said Ron. "You should be baking things fresh at your store. And making more than just cupcakes too!"

"We need to be efficient if we're scaling up our operation," said Hank. "It's easier to have one product and to do it from one location."

"Where's the personal touch in that?"

"Wait," said Wade, "If you think pre-making and mass-producing their food is bad, then how do you explain eating at Bueno Nacho all the time?"

Ron grumbled, finding it hard to counter Wade's irrelevant point.

"Okay, so I don't mind mass produced food _sometimes_," he said, "but baking is different. And besides, what's the best item at Bueno Nacho? The Naco, which I personally designed, and which is still tastiest when I make it in my own kitchen. So booyah!"

"_Excuse_ me!" said Drakken. "Can we get back to the plan now?"

Ron sat down at the booth and joined Wade and Kim in listening as Drakken outlined his plan.

"The fact that they keep hitting us during our packing and distribution schedule tells me that they must be keeping an eye on our operation somehow. Assad and I haven't been able to find any bugs at the warehouse, but they did hack into our security cameras, so perhaps that system is compromised. Either way, they know when we make new batches of cupcakes at the warehouse and ship them out to our locations.

"Which is why," said Drakken, "I was hoping you would accept this mission today, Kim Possible. And you as well, buffoon."

Ron nodded politely at being acknowledged.

"Today is Friday – one of our biweekly distribution days. We'll have another shipment of cupcakes ready to go at the warehouse later tonight. If I am right, our unwelcome visitors are aware of this, and they failed to steal a fully packed shipment last time. Which gives _us_ the perfect opportunity to set up a trap!"

"Poison the cupcakes?" asked Ron.

"What? No! I am no longer a supervillain," snapped Drakken. "I am suggesting we catch them in the act."

Kim wasn't sure about Drakken's claim to be walking the path of righteousness, but his idea sounded as good as any. Waiting for cupcakes thieves to break into Drakken's warehouse was not exactly what Kim had in mind for an enjoyable Friday night, but something did smell fishy, so she'd do it. More importantly, she would do it as a favor to Wade.

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - If anyone is interested in knowing, this chapter is basically the idea which set off this story. I thought the idea of Drakken and Hank Perkins owning a bakery together was cute and amusing, and then the idea of Kim having to help them look for stolen cupcakes also amused me, and of course Ron and his interest in the culinary arts ties in. And bam, that was the skeleton of the story which brought everything else together. Next chapter, after some visits to their families, the mission begins!_


	5. Stakeout

**Stakeout**

XX

Wade, Kim, and Ron left the bakery and walked along the sidewalk as they discussed the plan they had just formalized with Drakken. They reached a small park square at the end of the block and paused for a moment, since the plan would take place later that evening and they would have to part ways in a moment.

"What do you think?" Kim asked Wade. "Is Drakken up to something?"

"I've done a scan of Doctor D Cups-"

"Please don't use that name."

"I've done a scan of the bakery and the warehouse, and I didn't see anything too suspicious. No secret hidden laboratories or doomsday weapons lying around. If he's using this as a front for something else, he's keeping it well hidden. Maybe he has a facility elsewhere that we don't know about."

"And it seems strange that he would specifically invite me to help him catch these thieves if he was hiding something," said Kim. "Even for Drakken, that seems a little absent-minded. But I still smell something fishy."

"Me too," agreed Ron. "I think it might be coming from under that tree though," he said as he pointed to a nearby evergreen. "Should I go check it out?"

Wade ignored Ron and continued discussing the plan with Kim. "Global Justice will be keeping an eye on things, and you'll have a ride ready when we need to move out. They don't know anything more than I do about what Drakken might be up to, though. I have to go home for a while, but I'll be ready to go by tonight."

"Ditto," said Kim. "I think I'll visit my family."

She looked at Ron hesitantly for a moment, not sure whether she should extend an invitation to him or not.

"Uh – do you want to come and say hi to them?"

Ron considered the offer. He did want to take it, as he hadn't seen the Possibles in a long time, but he thought about hearing their questions, dealing with the awkwardness of being there with Kim after everything that had happened between them. And if Kim's mother saw him there with Kim and assumed the two them had gotten back together somehow – Ron couldn't think of anything more embarrassing.

"I think I should stop by my own house, actually," he finally said.

"Suit yourself."

"Alright, see you guys later then," said Wade. "Are you going to want the Battle Suit for tonight, Kim?"

Kim thought about the white and blue-trimmed suit that Wade had designed for her when she took down Drakken's Lil Diablo scheme. Although it could definitely be useful, Kim had found that Wade had a soft spot for experimentation and gadgetry, which meant that the suit's glitchiness and unreliability was enough to make her hesitant in using it sometimes. For her first mission in a while, she decided she'd be better off relying on her usual mission outfit.

"I think I'll pass this time, Wade."

"Suit yourself." Wade was just repeating Kim's earlier comment, but he realized his pun and grinned. "Oh, Ron, do you need a ride?"

"Sure," he said. "It took forever to get here by scooter."

"I'll give you an old Kimmunicator for the stakeout later," said Wade. "I think I have one lying in my car. That way you'll both have one."

Kim was about to leave the square in the direction of her own car when she paused. "Wait a minute," she said. "Wade, you actually have a driver's license?"

Wade nodded. "You know I'm 16 now, right?"

Kim felt herself blush a little, realizing that she did not in fact know that.

"Although I've actually had a license since I was 13. Let's just say the DMV's records are not that hard to hack into."

Kim gave Wade a look of faint disapproval she said goodbye to the two of them. The boy who once refused to appear in public unless he was using a mobile computer screen was now driving around town. It was hard for Kim to picture, but it was just another example of how she had grown distant from Wade, Ron, and her old missions. At least Ron didn't seem too different, although she had barely talked to him during their reunion at the bakery. Maybe things would start to change tonight, she thought.

XX

When Anne Possible watched her daughter wave goodbye on her first day of college, it had been a bittersweet vision. She was immensely proud of her daughter's accomplishments – even as a renowned brain surgeon, Anne knew that her daughter's talent and drive outstripped her own. And yet, despite the fact that Kim had been traveling the world and fighting evil on a day-to-day basis for years, seeing her daughter starting college felt like watching her take a first big step into adulthood. A long-reaching step her little child took as she became a woman, growing older and just a little more distant from Anne.

Kim had lived at home for her freshman year and some of her sophomore year, but very soon after things had fallen apart with Ron, she had moved into the apartment with Monique. Which was another step. A step into adulthood and independence, even though Anne had to remind herself that Kim had always been fiercely independent.

The actual relationship with Monique was another step that Anne had never seen coming. Kim and Ron had been friends since childhood, inseparable as night and day. Peas in a pod. She had been happy to see their relationship blossom beyond friendship, and equally crushed when it had fallen apart so painfully. Kim had been unhappy for a long time, and while Anne was glad she had found Monique, who had certainly been making her happy again, she still thought what had happened was a shame. But her daughter was living her own life, taking a path that Anne could not anticipate. It was hard enough to anticipate the winding paths that her own life took, for that matter.

Kim still talked to Anne about her problems, still kept in touch with her family, but the rigors of the collegiate lifestyle meant that Anne did not get to see her daughter as much as she would like. Which was why she was happy to see a familiar souped-up car pull into the driveway, driving a little too quickly for her taste.

"Kim!" she said as she opened the door to her daughter's beaming face. Kim grabbed her mother and pulled her into a bear hug, which Anne enjoyed despite feeling a little bruised and battered by the time her daughter released her.

James Possible, who had also heard his daughter's arrival, appeared at the front door and scooped his daughter up into his own hug. "How's my little Kimmie-cub?" he asked.

"Not bad. Studying hard, as usual."

Anne led her daughter into the kitchen, intent on making her something to eat even though the afternoon had worn on long enough to be equally distant from lunch and dinner. But Anne couldn't help but whip something up when her daughter visited. "How did Monique's designs for the wrestlers look?" she asked as she opened the fridge. "I remember you talking about how excited Monique was about those."

"They looked great. She's really psyched about that job."

The sound of a school bus pulling up outside of the house rattled the kitchen blinds a little. Kim grinned; the tweebs were home. Although her brothers could still be annoying, she had developed a more cordial relationship with them now that they were getting a little older. And, probably, now that she had some distance from them and could more easily retain her sanity.

"We're home!"

Jim and Tim barged through the door and noticed their sister sitting in the kitchen. Jim shot her a mock glare.

"Aw man, she's totally stealing our just-got-back-from-school attention."

"Sorry tweebs," said Kim, stinking her tongue out at her brothers.

Tim sat down at the kitchen table after flinging his backpack unceremoniously on the floor, although a stern glare from James convinced him to pick it up and set it more carefully in a corner before returning to his chair. "So what brings you to Middleton to grace us with your rare presence?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've totally forgotten what you look like," Jim added.

"Haha, very funny. I'm actually here because I'm going to stake out a warehouse later. Wade's got me on a new mission!"

Anne looked back in surprise from the sandwich she had been preparing and narrowly avoided chopping her finger with a knife. "A mission? Really?"

"Yep. It's kind of a weird one, I'm sort of doing a mission for Drakken."

"Working for the enemy," said James with a cluck of disapproval. He tried to grab half of the sandwich that Anne was preparing, but she swatted his hand away. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like she was waving her knife a little menacingly for a second there, too. "College really _has_ changed you, Kim!"

"It's no big. I just have to figure out if he's up to anything. Oh, and I'm going with Ron."

The kitchen fell into an eerie silence.

"Really?"

Kim nodded at her mother and took half of the sandwich she was offered, passing the other half to her father. James would have given his wife a smirk of triumph, but he was also busy being taken aback by Kim's comment.

Anne cleared her throat. "Does that mean the two of you are -"

"No, mom, we're not together again. It was just something Wade wanted for some reason."

"I didn't mean to suggest that, Kim. I was just wondering if the two of you had patched things up a little."

"Oh. Not really. I don't know. We'll have to see what happens, but I don't have high hopes."

Anne was a little disappointed at the response. Still, Kim going on her first mission in a while – and with Ron coming along, no less – was a start. She knew that Kim had been with Monique for a while, and the two of them were very good for each other, but Anne believed that her daughter missed her old friend. And Anne missed Ron herself. Ever since the breakup, he had rarely come by the Possible home, which was unfortunate, but Anne could understand some of his reluctance. Life had a way of making things more complicated over time.

"When are you going?" she asked her daughter.

"In a few hours. But me and Ron are meeting at the warehouse here in Middleton, so I thought I'd stop by and hang out with you guys beforehand. Ron would have come, but I got the impression he felt like it would be awkward."

"That's alright. Just tell him we said hello when you see him, alright?"

"I will."

Before Kim had even begun her sandwich, Jim and Tim drew closer to either side of her with suspicious looks on their faces. "Hey sis," they asked in unison, "want to see our new invention in the garage?"

Kim tried to read their expressions. They could be planning something, and even if they weren't, it was really a gamble as to whether or not their device in the garage would blow up as soon as they turned it on. But then, Kim had always been a risk taker.

"Totally"

XX

The dancing figures on the television enthralled Ron as he watched them twirl back and forth in a colorful blur. Hana was also engrossed in the scene before them. Even though she had long since learned to walk, dance, and perform a number of other headache-inducing acrobatics around the house, Hana still enjoyed watching the Flippies, especially if she was watching it with her big brother.

"Want to dance?" she suggested.

"I dunno Han, Ron isn't feelin' the groove right now."

Ron didn't know if it was the hypnotic languor that the swaying dancers seemed to be instilling in him, if it was the emotional stressfulness of the day so far, or some combination of the two. He had tried to take it easy and treat his first meeting with Kim in a long time as no big, but it was, in fact, pretty big. Maybe he was just starting to feel its delayed effects. The awkwardness of Drakken and Hank being there during his reunion with Kim, throwing him off with their unexpected steamy romancing, probably didn't help matters.

"Isn't it almost time to go?" Ron's mother asked him as she and her husband walked into the living room.

"Pretty soon. Another hour or so. Drakken had to spend some time setting things up at the warehouse first."

"I see," said Dean. "Are you looking forward to going on a mission with Kim?"

"I guess."

Dean had noticed that his son had been acting ambivalent ever since he came home to visit for a while before going on whatever this warehouse stakeout was. He and his wife did not always have the closest relationship to their son – Dean's actuarial duties tended to suck away his time – but he knew that things had been bad, perhaps even nonexistent, between Ron and Kim Possible.

His son had been in a funk for a long time, and Dean had never been the greatest at connecting with Ron, except on the occasion that he put on a cape and demanded to fight supervillains with him. But, again, actuary work did not leave a lot of time for battling evil. Unless, by the phrase 'fighting evil', one meant fighting the dangers of uncontrolled risk and liability with proper financial management. But that probably wasn't what the phrase meant.

"Do you think the two of you are patching things up?" Dean said, unknowingly echoing the sentiments of another parent in a nearby house.

"No clue," admitted Ron. "KP and I have been on the outs for a little while. I dunno if that can change, or if either of us really even want it to." He looked at Rufus, who had been dancing with Hana in front of the television. "Hey buddy, are you gonna be tagging along on the mission with me?"

Rufus looked at Ron and twitched his whiskers in an indecipherable emotion. The mole rat's head shook after a moment of consideration. Rufus was not a sophisticated soul – although, for a mole rat, he was a genius – but he was well aware of what had happened between Kim and Ron. He had felt obligated to be angry at Kim at first, since Ron was his owner, but he didn't know what to think anymore. Rufus just wanted to be around both of them and enjoy a nice Naco in pleasant harmony, the way things had been in the past, but he knew that this mission would probably be a big, oozing pile of drama. And he wasn't in the mood for drama.

"Suit yourself," said Ron. "Oh, by the way, I brought you a cupcake from Drakken's place. They're alright. Nowhere near as good as my stuff, of course, but I snagged you one anyway."

Ron knew he was fibbing a little; the cupcakes were disturbingly good, although it was still true that they did not quite measure up to his own baking skills. He pulled the cupcake out of his cargo pants pocket, removed it from the napkins he had used to wrap it, and threw it over to Rufus.

"It's a little squished, sorry."

Rufus waved his tiny claws in a dismissal of Ron's apology. As far as he was concerned, when free food was involved, no apologies were ever needed.

As the mole rat dug into his cupcake, Ron noticed Hana looking up at him again as her show blared on the television and giving him a familiar face, which ladies of all ages seemed to employ as a kind of innate bargaining chip: the puppy dog pout.

"Alright alright," he said. "Get over here and let's dance!"

XX

One of Drakken's patented Cupcake Containment Chambers – or Triple C's, as he liked to call them - sat in the middle of the warehouse floor, blinking and letting the occasional electronic beep ring out. It had been filled with Drakken's cupcakes – or his D Cups, as Kim was loathe to call them – and it was ready to ship out. Not that any of the warehouse workers were planning to ship it anywhere. Instead, it would stay there in the middle of the warehouse. Until someone took the bait.

Kim and Ron had finished their family visits and arrived at the warehouse a couple of hours ago, where they had been waiting in a concealed corner behind a number of boxes and keeping an eye on the chamber as Drakken's workers set it up and filled it with cupcakes. Some of the workers were still milling around on the factory floor and pretending to work, although it was mainly a ruse to maintain a sense of normalcy.

Kim looked over at the operations manager, who had been sitting between her and Ron for the last hour or so. Assad Sacke had a black eye, which she assumed he had gotten during the last cupcake thief attack. He was also one of the more depressing conversationalists that Kim had met; the last hour had been a steady stream of Assad describing various things that had gone wrong with his life in the past, as well as a description of the failure of his marriage with his ex-wife. His stories were depressing, although he seemed to be surprisingly chipper about them sometimes. None of Assad's tales had been prompted by Kim. But then, maybe it beat sitting in awkward silence with Ron for hours on end while they waited for Drakken's mysterious ninja cupcake thieves to strike again.

"How do you know they're going to come back?" she asked Assad.

Assad shifted in position to try to wake up his legs, which had fallen asleep while he was helping the two teen heroes on their stakeout. "We don't know for sure," he said, "but the past few times they've stolen the cupcake shipments, it was only a few hours after we started getting the shipment ready. Almost like they knew we were doing it beforehand. They've _got_ to be keeping tabs on our operation somehow.

"This last time, they seemed even really impatient about grabbing the cupcakes – they didn't even get a full Triple C's worth of cupcakes. Hopefully they'll realize their mistake and notice that we've got more ready to go, and maybe come back to get a full load of loot this time."

Kim nodded as she watched the Cupcake Containment Chamber sitting merrily away in the center of the room. It was a sinister looking contraption: bulky, angular, and black, with blinking buttons and a few coils of silver tubing that curled out of its metal sides and then back in again. Not something in which Kim would expect to find cupcakes. She got the feeling that Drakken was having a little trouble letting go of the supervillain motif when it came to his designs and equipment. Even the employees at the bakery had worn uniforms that looked more like henchmen outfits, although Kim hadn't ruled out the possibility that they really _were_ henchmen.

She and Ron – along with Assad – were concealed behind some boxes and crates where they could keep an eye on the warehouse floor and hopefully catch the thieves in the act. Kim cracked her knuckles, looking forward to her first fight in quite a while. They were hoping to capture at least one or two of the thieves and try to get information from them, seeing as the security camera footage had been useless and neither Wade nor Global Justice had found anything useful about recent villain operations.

It would be a strange fight, however, since Kim would have to actually hold back a little. Drakken had also planted a tracking device in the Containment Chamber itself. Ultimately, they wanted to let most of the thieves feel like they'd won the fight and get away with their cupcake cargo, returning to wherever they came from. By doing so, hopefully they would lead Kim and Ron right to their lair.

Or ninja hideout. Or base of operations. It varied, depending on the enemy.

"Anyway," said Assad, wanting to continue the cathartic discussion of his personal life while he waited with Kim and Ron for their quarry to arrive, "That was when I realized that Layla had just been using me the whole time. And marriage is supposed to be about the give and take, right? Well," he laughed, "I guess it kind of was in my case. I gave and I gave and I gave, and she took and took and took!"

Kim nodded listlessly as her shoulders slumped. She and Ron had agreed to take turns napping during the stakeout, since they didn't know when the thieves would arrive and they had no idea how much sleep they'd get once they were in pursuit of the cupcake cargo. Wade was keeping an eye out on things to warn Kim and Ron before the thieves arrived, and Global Justice would provide a plane ride once they started their pursuit, but until then, it was a waiting game. And Assad seemed determined to make that wait as slow as possible.

"I told her, Layla, you've got me on my knees here, begging you darling, please – what else do you want from me? Do you know what I mean?"

Kim yawned in reply.

"So how did you get into the world saving business, anyway?"

"I had a babysitting website," said Kim, "and it just kind of sprung up from that."

Now that she put it into words, Kim realized it was kind of a strange path to take.

"Interesting," said Assad. "How well does it pay?"

"This is actually the first mission I've ever asked to be paid for," said Kim, "since I'm not big on helping my former enemies out. But it's not like Drakken and Hank are gonna pay me squat."

"What, so you help people for – for _free_?"

Kim nodded, and Assad looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.

"I used to work at Smarty Mart before I took up this job," said Assad. "The pay there was horrible, and Drakken and Hank had a better rate even though they told us that if we tried to unionized we'd be vaporized in a cloud of human particulate."

Kim frowned. That sounded too supervillainy for her tastes.

"Dude, I work at Smarty Mart too! Do you know Mr. Barkin?"

"Know him? He tried to fire me before I found out he wasn't even a manager! But that was only after I left for three weeks without pay."

"Er, that's rough, I guess?"

Assad nodded vehemently. "I was sleeping on the couch for most of the day during that little break. Let me tell you, Layla wasn't happy about that at all. This one time..."

Kim began to nod off as Assad went on another tangent about his ex-wife. Ron was talking to Assad more than he was talking to her, not that she knew what she'd say. What a way to spend the beginning of her weekend. She was still on the fence about whether this mission was a waste of her time or not. Either way, it was a good thing that Ron had the first watch, because at this rate, she would not be staying awake for long.

XX

_You're so pretty, Kim. And I gotta give it to you – your sense of fashion is just a little bit better than mine!_

Kim basked in the warm glow of Monique's attention. She felt a pair of sleek arms wrap around her, toned by hours of gym exercise enhanced by the workout tips of Steel Toe and Pain King. Monique's figure only got more stunning with age.

_Thanks, Mon. You always know just what to say, don't you?_

The two of them were curled up on the couch as they watched one of Kim's favorite shows, _Captain Constellation_. She used to hate it, but once she got an apartment with Monique in college and saw her family less often, she had started watching the reruns of the show because it reminded her of home. And, amazingly enough, Kim's appreciation for cheesy sci-fi had changed with age.

_You know, KP, I'm really glad we made up_, said Ron as he sat on the couch beside them. _I should have known __that you were right about everything. I just needed to grow up a little. And now the three of us get to be friends again __and watch Captain Constellation together!_

Kim gave Ron's shoulder a squeeze, glad to hear him acknowledge the truth. _I'm glad you wised up,_ she told him. _After all, I usually know what's best._

Everything was right. Everything was the way it should be. It was just too bad that it was a dream.

Somewhere in the depths of Kim's sleeping mind, she knew that it was a dream even while she dreamed it, but she was still enjoying herself. A few more moments of bliss passed her by before she began to notice a faint beeping sound that kept growing louder. It was not coming from her dream apartment. It was coming from the waking world.

A different sound ripped through her dream. A clattering sound, almost like a vent hitting the floor. Kim blinked and woke up as her dream faded away into the haze of darkness that enveloped the warehouse. Someone had turned the lights off, and the room was unusually silent. She assumed most of the workers had already left as the stakeout wore on. Once her eyes got adjusted to the gloom, she noticed Assad Sacke sleeping on the ground beside her. Ron sat beside him, slumped against one of the crates, and as Kim peered more closely, it was obvious that he was also asleep.

"Rrrgh, Ron!"

So much for one of them keeping tabs on the Containment Chamber. She glanced quickly out from her hiding place amongst the crates and saw that it was still there, a few of its lights glowing malevolently in the darkness. Kim wondered how much time had passed since she had fallen asleep, and looked at her wrist only to realize that her watch was making the beeping sound she had heard in the dream. She pressed a button and saw Wade's face pop into view, looking a little panicked.

"What's the sitch, Wade?"

"Kim – behind you!"

Kim whirled around just in time to see the outline of a black-clad figure rushing towards her in the darkness. A thick boot sunk into her chest with a thunk as she flew backwards and hit the crates, sending them sprawling across the warehouse floor. _Nice one_, Kim thought. Clearly she was a bit more out of practice than she had expected.

She got up from the scattered crates and noticed Ron and Assad waking up from the sudden clatter, but several more dark figures began to surround them. A grille on the ground behind the figures told Kim that they had snuck through a ventilation shaft instead of coming through the loading dock door like last time.

"We saw you guys were setting up an ambush," said one of the masked figures as he took a step closer, "so we decided we'd give you a little surprise of our own."

Kim felt a little defensive – they definitely wouldn't have surprised her if Ron had stayed awake. "That kick in the chest?" she said. "_So_ not going to happen again."

"All we want are those cupcakes."

"Why?"

The masked figure took another step closer instead of replying. Kim could tell by his body movements that he was getting ready to fight, and she let herself loosen up a little as she prepared to take revenge for being caught off guard. She may have just been sleeping, but getting a boot to the chest had a way of putting her senses on full alert.

Kim looked over her opponent. He was clad in what looked like a ninja outfit, but he was fairly bulky for a ninja. Kim wondered if she was stereotyping ninjas based on Yori and others she had seen at Yamanouchi. The man in front of her seemed to be the leader of the group. His ninja friends, who were almost as musclebound as he was, were busy tying up Ron and Assad, who had woken up too late to fight back. She'd have to focus on the leader, not that it mattered – his ninja buddies could grab the Triple C set up as bait and make off with it. All according to Drakken's plan.

"Are you going to step aside?" the man asked.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Good point," the man said. "I was looking forward to fighting you anyway."

Kim could make out a smirk through the dim light of the warehouse.

"Yeah," she said as she got ready to make a flying leap. "I think you'll get a real kick out of it!"

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - The story is now finished (other than general cleanup and editing) so I think I will be posting the chapters a little bit more quickly now. No particular schedule because I'm lazy and hate being obligated to update, hehe, but maybe once every two or three days, something like that._


	6. On the Line

**On the Line**

XX

Kicking the masked man in the chest was one of the most satisfying things Kim had done in weeks. Other than a few things with Monique, she reminded herself with a mental grin. Whether it was in academics or hand to hand combat – or foot to chest combat, in this case - Kim hated making mistakes. Being caught off guard had stung, but she was willing to bet that her opponent was now feeling the sting just a little bit more.

"You'll pay for that one!" the man said. He got up and brushed some dust from the warehouse floor off of his sleek ninja suit.

"Sorry, no cash on me. I guess you'll have to _foot_ the bill!"

She lunged for another kick, but the man anticipated it and dodged. It was a good opportunity for him to come around with a blow to Kim's back, which she tried to dodge by whirling around for a block, but no blow came. Instead, the man was looking at her a little quizzically.

"Wait, I didn't mean _literally_ pay me," he said after a moment.

"Duh! I was just engaging in repartee."

"Oh, right."

Kim managed to take advantage of her opponent's confusion and pull a sweeping kick, which he tried to dodge but ended up tripping backwards over a crate. He got back up more quickly this time, and the two of them ducked and weaved through the crates that had been knocked over in their falls, meeting each other in a flurry of fists and blows.

Kim could often recognize her opponents by their fighting styles. She knew Shego's style almost as well as her own, for instance, to the extent that they often anticipated each other's moves. She knew Monkey Fist's style too, although not as well. There were even a few regular henchman she kept running up against – particularly a couple of Dementor's goons – with whom fighting had become a familiar, almost cordial exchange. Not that their styles helped them stand up to Kim Possible for more than a few moments.

The man she was fighting was strange, however. Something about his fighting style seemed vaguely familiar to her. Even more strange, however, was that the ninja was not a very good fighter. Kim could recognize if an opponent was using textbook moves or sticking to the basics of a martial arts style, and her opponent definitely had an unusual approach, but it was easy to counter. The ninja was landing a blow here and there, but they usually glanced off of Kim as if he didn't know how to follow through. And she was easily blocking most of his punches and kicks.

It was as if he had picked up some effective attacks by chance, but was otherwise inexperienced. The fact that he had been so thrown off by her verbal sparring – which, Kim mentally noted, she really needed to work on – was even more suggestive of his inexperience in combat. At least the kind of combat that supervillains and teen heroes engaged in. Kim was also getting the impression that the ninja was using a style that did not fit his bulky figure, and would have been better suited for someone a little more nimble.

She blocked several more of the man's blows and landed a hard punch in his solar plexus, which forced him to stumble a few steps back and gasp for air. She was about to seize the opportunity to take him down for good when another ninja sailed through the air in between them and hit the ground in a heap. Kim looked back and saw that Ron had broken free of his ropes.

"Don't worry KP, I got this covered!"

Several more of the ninjas had already gathered around the Cupcake Containment Chamber and were picking it up between themselves. It looked hefty, but they were large enough that it would be out of the loading dock door within a few moments. The ninja leader whom Kim had been fighting straightened up after regaining his breath, but before he knew what hit him, Kim knocked him over again and straddled his abdomen, keeping him pinned to the ground.

"Gotcha!" yelled Kim triumphantly as she reached down and ripped his mask off.

The face that stared up at her was familiar, just like some of the man's moves. She knew she had seen him somewhere before, but where? Kim felt herself getting increasingly frustrated.

"Who _are_ you?" she asked.

The man answered her with a punch to the face. Kim fell backwards off him, her jaw stinging, and the man leaped up again. She felt a surge of fury at being caught off guard for a second time - this time because of the maddening familiarity in the man's features. Before she could get up and make him pay, however, Ron leaped forward in a halo of blue light.

"Eat monkey foot, chump!"

Ron's foot, crackling with the blue energy of the Mystical Monkey Power, sank into the man's chest and knocked him backwards yet again. He rolled a few feet and picked himself up as Ron performed a theatrical and totally unnecessary whirling motion with his hands, while making a sound that Kim could only assume was supposed to sound like a monkey hooting.

"Alright," said the man. He tried to maintain his cool ninja exterior, but it was apparent that he was getting a little tired of the hard chest blows. "I'm a little pressed for time, so I'll let you guys win this round. Don't get too cocky, though – I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon!"

He laughed and made a break for the loading dock door, which had been opened by his fellow ninjas who had already disappeared with their baked and frosted loot. Ron was about to pursue him, but Kim held him back and shook her head, reminding him of that letting them escape was part of their plan. They were taking a moment to cool down from the fight when Kim heard a groan come from behind her.

"Ugh, what happened?" asked Assad Sacke.

He joined Kim and Ron as they stared at the open loading dock door, and Kim noticed that he had two black eyes instead of just one. He had also gotten out of his rope bonds, from the looks of it, but one of the ninjas must have taken him out of commission quickly.

"They took the bait," said Kim. She brought Wade up on her wrist Kimmunicator. "Wade, is Drakken's tracking device working?"

"Yeah, like a charm," he said. "I'm keeping tabs on the Containment Chamber right now. The ninjas have some kind of jet in a field a little ways away from the warehouse. They're just about to take off. Global Justice will be giving you and Ron a ride soon, but we want to let them get a few minutes lead on us so they don't think they're being followed."

"Sounds good. I'm dying to know who these jokers are."

Kim made a note of the coordinates that Wade brought up on her screen – she wondered why Wade couldn't have just told her that it was the parking lot directly outside of the warehouse. Their foes were hooked, and now all she and Ron had to do was keep them on the line until they got where they were going. She motioned for Ron to follow her as they left the warehouse, and almost forgot to say goodbye to Assad.

"Uh, nice meeting you," she said.

"You might want to put some raw meat on that eye," suggested Ron as he shook Assad's hand.

"Thanks guys. Drakken and I appreciate your help with our little problem."

Assad watched as the two teens left the warehouse to be picked up by their ride and start their pursuit. Although he wasn't sure if they were teens or not. Having been hired by Drakken, Assad had heard his boss make the occasional off-handed comment about the red-headed girl that had so often been a thorn in his side, but he knew that Drakken hadn't seen her in a while, and she was now in college.

As for the blond sidekick, Assad wasn't sure who he was. He wasn't even sure if he had heard the boy's name. Rob? Rudolph? Definitely something that started with an R. Whoever he was, he seemed to have some unusual powers of his own.

Assad wished the two of them luck as he limped across the warehouse floor and flipped on some lights. It was late, and he was technically not on the clock – Drakken did not pay overtime for stakeouts – but Assad felt too beat up to go home. He would sleep in his office tonight. But first, he was hoping that he might find a cold cut, or at least a cold soda, to place over his swelling black eye.

Being a manager was a lot more dangerous than he would have guessed from what he learned in business school.

XX

The sun was not in the sky yet, but a line of lighter blue was beginning to etch itself over the black tree tops beyond the parking lot in front of Drakken's warehouse, heralding the approach of dawn. Apparently Kim and Ron had slept through most of the night and morning while they waited for Drakken's thieves to show themselves. A Global Justice jet sat waiting for them in the center of the parking lot. The lot was not very large, so Kim assumed the jet must have some kind of gliding and vertical landing capabilities.

Other than the jet, there were only two vehicles in the parking lot. Kim's Sloth was parked close to the warehouse, which she had used to pick up Ron and drive the two of them there earlier, and another car was parked in the center of the lot, right next to the jet. From the looks of it, the jet had accidentally smashed into the side of the car as it made its landing. Kim wondered if it was Assad Sacke's car. All the other workers had left sometime while the three of them had fallen asleep during their stakeout.

Another black eye and a smashed car. She felt a little sorry for the guy.

Her sorrow was soon replaced with annoyance when she caught sight of who was coming out of the Global Justice jet, dressed in full uniform and extending his hand to greet his two passengers. Wade had not told her that Will Du would be giving them a ride.

"Hello, Will."

Will Du shook Kim's hand with just enough pressure to be professional, but not so much or so little as to appear emotional in any way. "I am glad to see you again, Kim Possible." He looked at Ron, and if his demeanor towards Kim had been stoic, his demeanor towards Ron was stoic with a hint of distaste. "Ron Stoppable," he added as he shook Ron's hand.

"I guess Dr. Director assigned you to give us a ride while we pursue those ninjas – er, cupcakes thieves – whoever they are?"

"I volunteered, but yes."

Will Du stepped aside to let Kim and Ron go up the ramp and into the jet first.

"We will pursue them until we find their lair, and then the two of you can drop on their location. Parachutes are in the jet. I will then take the jet to the nearest Global Justice facility, and reinforcements will be sent if you need them."

Kim was glad that Will Du made it sound as if Global Justice would not be interfering too much with the mission. She imagined that Drakken had to be uncomfortable with them being involved at all, although she never would have guessed that he would ask for her help either. Not that Global Justice didn't come in handy sometimes, but she was feeling a little insecure for some reason. Maybe because of that ninja team getting the drop on her in the warehouse; she wanted to handle this mission with as little help as possible. Maybe she just wanted to prove herself after being out of the world-saving loop for a while.

"How did you like that monkey powered kick I landed on that dude in the warehouse?" asked Ron as the two of them took a pair of seats in the jet. Ron took the aisle seat, because although he liked the view, he wanted easy access to the bathroom in case he got air sick.

"It was nice," said Kim.

"Just nice? I totally stopped that guy from hitting you while you were down."

"I had it covered," said Kim, a little testily. Ron caught the tone and dropped the subject.

Will Du looked at his two passengers after drawing in the boarding ramp and closing the passenger door. "I had heard that the two of you were not doing missions together anymore," he said. "I was not aware that Ron was coming along."

"I'm as surprised as you are," said Kim.

Ron bristled at the exchange. "What's that mean? Neither of you even want me here?"

"No, Ron, that's not what I meant, I just-"

Kim trailed off, as Ron was folding his arms together and sinking back into his seat with a glower.

Will Du sensed the change in atmosphere and took it as a cue to retreat to the cockpit in order to start their pursuit. The plane began to lift off after a few moments, and Kim watched out the window as the car parked next to them was buffeted by the jet yet again. A prickly silence emanated from her ex-boyfriend like an invisible cloud. Kim anticipated a long flight ahead of her.

XX

Monique looked up at Chirparoo One and Two, who were casting shadows over her homework as they flew in happy circles overhead. She was trying to get some work done in the apartment's living room, although she was distracted by thoughts about how Kim's mission was going. Kim's backpack was still lying beside the couch where she had dumped it the other night upon returning from class. Monique couldn't help but laugh at a thought that popped into her mind. Even if Kim was in the middle of slugging a supervillain, she was probably worrying about the homework that was waiting for her here when she returned.

"Come on girl, focus," she told herself.

Monique's homework was for an applied math class that she needed as part of her degree requirements. Math was not her favorite, and the technicalities of measurements and fitting were not Monique's favorite part of fashion design. She enjoyed the colors, picking the fabrics themselves, designing patterns, and some of the psychological aspects – like the way something as simple as a nice dress could change the way you felt about yourself, or even the way people interacted with you. But she supposed there were less interesting parts of any job that still needed to be learned.

Right now, however, she was wondering why Kim hadn't called her before starting the mission. Monique had last talked to her girlfriend yesterday, when Kim visited her at her job at the Upperton Arena and then left to meet Wade for more information on the mission. Kim hadn't come back to the apartment since then, and although Monique knew she and Ron were probably off fighting evil, she had expected at least a phone call. Was she being unreasonable? Monique couldn't decide. She didn't want to be needy or interrupt Kim in the middle of a fight.

After another moment of fruitless staring, Monique realized that the numbers on her math homework were starting to bleed together in an incomprehensible mass. "Ah, screw it," she said as she got up and grabbed her cell phone to call Kim's number. Her girlfriend answered quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kim!"

"Ooh, hey Monique. How's it going?"

"Not bad, just doing some homework. I wanted to see how your mission was going."

"Oh man, I guess I should have called you earlier, sorry. You wouldn't believe what Wade has us doing."

"Oh yeah? What?"

"You know that bakery where Ned got those cupcakes that we were all eating at the arena the other day? It's owned by Dr. Drakken."

"You're kidding me. Are we all poisoned or something now?"

"I doubt it. I mean, it's been open for a little while since I've seen those cupcakes around campus, and I'm sure Wade would have said something. Plus I saw Drakken eat one himself. Anyway, some of his cupcakes got stolen and we're following some shady characters on a plane right now to see where they're going."

"We? You and Ron?"

"Yep."

"How are things going between you two? So not the drama, I hope?"

Kim's voice came through after a brief pause, a little quieter than before. "It's been awkweird. I guess it could be worse, though. He hasn't accused me of ripping his heart out or anything."

"Yeah," said Monique. She wondered if Kim was implying that Ron had accused her of heart-ripping when they had broken up. Monique gulped a little at the thought of what Ron might think of her. "So how long do you think you're gonna be gone?"

"No idea. Oh hey, I have another call coming in, I gotta go."

"T.T.Y.S, girl."

Monique flipped the cell phone shut and sat back on the couch, placing her legs up against the coffee table as she stared at the blank television screen. Her gaze traveled down to the unfinished homework that sat on the table. She had hoped that calling Kim would take care of her distraction and let her focus, but she could already tell that it had done nothing of the sort.

It sounded like things were still rough between Kim and Ron. That was too bad, since Monique knew that the two of them probably wanted things to work out – they had lived their whole lives together, after all. She knew both of them well enough to guess that working things out, with their history and the way things had ended between them, was not as easy as it sounded, even if they both wanted it. But as for what Monique thought? She was just as confused as ever.

On the one hand, she wanted Kim to be happy. She wanted Ron to be happy. She wanted to be friends with Ron again. But that nagging worry that had planted itself in the back of her mind, the voice she had heard when Kim decided to take Wade's mission offer while she was at the Upperton Arena – that voice was still there. Was she relieved that things weren't working out so easily between Kim and Ron? Was she threatened by the thought of the two of them growing closer again?

_On a mission_, chirped Chirparoo One as it landed on the arm of the couch beside Monique.

"Yes, I know."

Monique began to feel guilty that she was even asking herself such questions. Maybe they were ridiculous. Or maybe they held a kernel of truth. The television clicked into life as she decided to distract herself even further, giving up on her work at least for the moment. Monique wondered if Kim knew what a mess could sometimes be hidden beneath her cool exterior.

XX

"Who was that?" asked Ron.

Kim returned from the back of the plane, where she had been pacing around after getting the call. "Monique," she said as she sat back down in her seat beside Ron. "But I've got Wade on the Kimmunicator now. Any news, Wade?"

"Yeah, good news and bad news."

"Alright, bad news first."

"The signal from the tracking device just disappeared."

Kim and Ron groaned simultaneously.

"It could be that it malfunctioned, but Drakken insists it shouldn't have any problems, so I'm guessing they wised up and decided to check the Containment Chamber, seeing as they stole one that was almost empty last time. They probably found the tracker and smashed it, or dumped it en route."

"Wasn't it hidden?" asked Kim.

"Uh, apparently not. I asked Drakken and it sounds like it was big, clunky, and obvious."

"Why am I not surprised."

Kim looked out the window as the jet passed over the Atlantic Ocean. They had been flying for a little while, and it was now a beautiful afternoon outside. The jet they were pursuing had left the United States and seemed to be heading across the Atlantic in the direction of Europe, although she hadn't gotten an update from Wade on its location in a little while.

"So what's the good news?"

"We have a location on where the tracker stopped sending its signal. It cut off a little while after their jet reached the Mediterranean."

Kim and Ron shot each other a look, and couldn't help but smile when they realized that they were both thinking the same thought.

"The Seniors?"

"That was my first guess too," said Wade. "The signal disappeared too quickly to tell for sure, but it did seem like they were going in the general direction of the Seniors' island. I think we need to check them out. Will Du is taking you there now, so you'll be ready to drop in before long."

"Thanks Wade."

The call ended as Kim continued to look back out of the window, enjoying the view. Sure enough, she saw a jutting tongue of land beyond them as they passed by Gibraltar on their way from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. A faint scruff of clouds passed beneath the jet, but the brilliant blue of the ocean and the dull green and brown of land could be seen below them with ease. Sometimes Kim thought she spied birds passing over the water, although it was hard to tell whether or not they were just reflections of sunlight on the waves.

As far as supervillains went, paying a visit to the Seniors wasn't bad at all. Kim could always enjoy a little weekend diversion to do a little sunbathing on some French beach if the mission ended quickly enough.

Kim sat back in her window seat and relaxed. After a moment, Ron got up from his aisle seat and went to the back of the jet, where Kim had seen a pair of curtains upon boarding. Wondering what Ron was doing, she trained her ears and heard faint rustling coming from the back, until a loud _whoop!_ rang out a moment later. Ron returned and sat back in his seat holding a shiny bag of some kind, looking pleased with himself.

"What's that?"

"Airline peanuts," said Ron. "I thought maybe they'd have snacks back there, and I was wondering if even Global Justice jets carried airline peanuts. And they do – research successful!"

Ron strained as he tried to open the bag, which was sealed tight. Kim was amused at his peanut theory, but her expression turned into mild disapproval as she watched an almost indiscernible blue blow emanate from around Ron's hands as he squinted in concentration. A second later, the peanut bag ripped open, sending a shower of peanuts spraying over their seats.

Ron had not noticed Kim's disapproving look, and scooped up as many peanuts as he could get that hadn't already rolled away down the aisle. "So why do you think they'd be stealing cupcakes?" he asked in mid-crunch.

"Beats me. Maybe Junior needs some comfort food after his singing career failed to take off."

"Did it? I guess I haven't been keeping up with news on the old bad guy gang."

"Me neither, really. It was just a guess. But you know, I could swear I recognized that head ninja guy that I was fighting in the warehouse when I pulled his mask off. And there was something about his fighting style..."

"One of our old enemies?"

Ron thought about the ninja Kim was talking about; he hadn't gotten a good look at him in the darkness of the warehouse, but he remembered large pectoral muscles. "Wait, it wasn't Junior, was it?"

"No, definitely not. Maybe I haven't seen Junior in a while, but it's not like I forgot what he looks like."

"Maybe it's one of Junior's gym buddies."

Kim laughed at Ron's suggestion. The thought of Junior and his weight-training friends pulling capers cracked her up, for some reason. Perhaps they were fellow aspiring actors and singers. It was outlandish, but then, she and Ron had certainly come up against stranger things.

The two of them fell silent as they thought about what the Seniors' motivations might be, if the jet they were pursuing was really connected to them. Their plane ride had been awkward until then, but Kim was pleasantly surprised to realize that she had just shared a friendly conversation with Ron, albeit a short one. No snippy comments, no defensiveness. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Will Du's voice came crackling over the jet's intercom system. "About five minutes until we reach the Seniors' island," he said. Kim got up from her seat and grabbed a parachute for herself and Ron, who put his on reluctantly.

"So what have you been up to lately, Ron?"

Kim was hoping to continue the friendly tone that had begun just a moment ago, although Ron looked a little surprised that she had asked him the question.

"Uh, not much. Just hangin' out with the fam, working at Smarty Mart."

"Still?"

Kim immediately regretted asking, as she had not meant for it to sound like a negative comment on Ron's motivation. But then, Ron had complained to her about his job from time to time before their relationship ended, so she was surprised to hear he was still there.

"I tried to apply for a few different positions at the company, but Martin Smarty turned me down. After all I did for his kid, too! Oh, by the way, that reminds me – Mr. Smarty told me something weird about you getting my manager's job for me," Ron laughed. "I thought it sounded off, since I applied for that job myself. What was that about?"

"Oh, it's no big. I didn't even know you were applying for it. I just put in a good word for you when I happened to see the open position in the paper."

"Why?"

Kim wasn't sure how to answer the question. It seemed obvious to her. Even if she had already been broken up with Ron at the time, she felt bad for him not going to college and wanted to help give him a leg up. Before she could explain herself, though, Will Du opened the cockpit door and entered the passenger's compartment.

"We're almost there," he said.

"Who's flying the plane?" asked Ron, his tone switching rapidly to panic.

Will looked at Ron like he had just asked how to add two and two. "The plane is on autopilot" he explained patiently.

"Oh. Well, that's good."

The pleasant thrum of the plane's engines was replaced by a screaming rush of air as Kim opened the passenger door. The placid Mediterranean Sea passed by far below them, and a little more distant, an island started to get closer as the jet dipped a little in elevation. Their autopilot must be pretty fancy, Kim thought. Either that or Will Du was less competent than he pretended to be. Hopefully the former. Probably the latter.

"There it is," said Will as he pointed to the island. "Give us a call if you need help once you're down there."

Kim checked her parachute straps again as Ron followed her example. She hadn't done a jump in a while, but she was looking forward to it. Ron's expression, pale with just a hint of green in his cheeks, seemed to be communicating a different opinion on the upcoming sky dive.

"You ready to go, Ron?"

Ron nodded, a little halfheartedly. "Born ready, KP."

The island was now directly beneath them. Kim could make out the Senior's private lair and villa, although it was still a little too hard to tell if the jet they were pursuing had landed anywhere. But it was time to find out. She nodded at Will Du and grabbed Ron's hand as the two of them leaped into the blue.


	7. A Hot Mess

**A Hot Mess**

XX

A pair of discarded parachutes lay draped across the rocks at the edge of the ocean. Crashing surf broke against the jagged shore around the parachutes, and just in front of them, Kim and Ron began to pick their way closer to the thick walls of the Seniors' island lair. Coming in by parachute was not exactly the most stealthy way to infiltrate an island lair, but in Kim's experience, supervillains were surprisingly bad at actually monitoring the perimeters of their lairs and making sure no one broke in. Maybe they were usually too busy with their latest schemes to notice until Kim popped out of an air vent and tapped them on the shoulder. And in this case, Kim hadn't been able to choose how she got there.

Kim looked up at the top of the wall; there were no guards patrolling, at least not that she could see. "Grab on," she told Ron as she got out her grappling gun and shot a line over the wall.

Ron clasped his arms around her. Normally such a situation would have made Kim feel a little awkward given their past history, but at the moment, she was all business. The two of them zipped up onto the top of the wall and surveyed the scene before them.

"Looks like they have another mega light bulb set up," Ron pointed out. "Although I think it's one of those energy-saving kinds."

"How can you tell?"

"It looks like a giant version of the energy saving kind."

Kim had to give Ron that one. The two of them traveled along the length of the wall in order to scope out the rest of the island, as well as the lair itself. She looked over the interior of the Senior's lair; they had done some upgrading, and the place looked a little different in layout, but in terms of style it generally looked the same as it had always been. Swimming pool, folding chairs, tasteful décor and outdoor plants. Really more of a private villa if it wasn't for the traps and doomsday weapons within.

"I don't see the jet anywhere," said Ron as they got a look at as much of the island as they could.

"Yeah, but it could be they air-dropped the Containment Chamber. Or they knew we were tailing them and kept flying instead of giving it away that they're working for the Seniors."

"I don't see any guards either."

Ron was right, and Kim found the lack of guards on the premises a little stranger than the lack of a jet. Either the guards were all on break, or Señor Senior Senior was not into the hobby of supervillainy as much as he used to be. Or it was a trap. Junior wasn't sunbathing anywhere either, although Kim's assumption that Junior sunbathed 24 hours a day was probably a little unfair.

Traveling onwards, she found a point on the wall that was closest to the Senior's house itself. After grabbing Ron's hand, the two of them jumped across onto the adjacent roof. Kim wanted to look for some kind of air conditioning vent to break into, but there were a number of skylights placed along the roof at various intervals. They would be a lot more convenient – and probably less loud, since Ron was with her – than traveling through air ducts.

Kim crouched over one of the sky lights and looked down into the room below. It was empty. She grabbed a lipstick laser and suction cup out of her mission backpack, adhered the suction cup to the glass, and carefully cut a large circle out before removing it and placing it on the roof beside her. Ron watched for any unwanted visitors in the room below them, or on the roof for that matter, as Kim attached at rappelling line to a nearby roof fixture.

"Ready to go, Ron?"

"It woulda been nice to take a dip in that pool over there, since it's so hot" said Ron as he looked longingly over at the swimming pool in the courtyard beyond the roof. "But I guess that's out of the question."

"Exactly."

The two of them grabbed the line and rappelled down into the empty room. Kim landed quietly on her feet, while Ron fulfilled his usual sidekick obligation of tripping and landing loudly on his rear end. Kim helped him up and took a look around the room; it was large, mostly bereft of furnishings, and had no clear purpose. A raised catwalk lined one of the walls, almost like a viewing platform, and as Kim looked around, the room's look began to jog her memory. A rumbling sound started growing louder, coming from behind another one of the walls. Kim began to realize that she should have chosen which skylight to use for her infiltration more carefully.

"Uh, Ron?"

"What's up, KP?"

"Get ready to start dodging."

Several compartments in the wall opened across from them, and the rumbling sound turned into a deafening roar as a group of Spinning Tops of Doom rushed out into the open room. Kim held her grappling hook at the ready, hoping to latch onto the raised viewing platform along the wall to escape from their path and escape the room as quickly as possible, but the spinning tops were already blocking her shot. Ron backed away as the tops drew closer, sending fragments of floor and wall into the air as they carved a path of destruction in their wake.

"I really wish I hadn't suggested those things to Señor Senior Senior when we first met him."

"You and me both!"

Kim leaped to the side as one of the spinning tops drew closer to her. Flecks of floor tiling and stone bounced off her mission suit as she shielded her eyes. Just before reaching her, the top hit the wall and veered off in another direction.

"Ron, grab on!"

Ron dodged another one of the tops and grabbed hold of Kim as she saw an opening and shot her grappling gun towards the walkway on the far side of the room. She released the gun's lever and let the line reel the two of them in. Two of the tops careened towards each other, with the grappling line passsing right between them, but Kim and Ron zipped through just in time to avoid getting crushed as the tops met.

"Oof!"

Kim hit the railing and scrabbled over it, landing nimbly on the walkway. She gave Ron a helping hand and pulled him over as he dropped to the walkway in a heap. A door was embedded in the wall at the end of the walkway, but she could already tell they weren't going to be getting through. There was no handle; not even a keycard slot or code puncher. The door probably opened only from the other side. And the room Kim had been so eager to enter, the room where they were both now stuck, was obviously a trap. Kim hated to admit it, but she couldn't ignore the fact that she was having a rough time on her first mission in months.

"What now, KP?"

Ron's voice barely traveled over the cacophony of noise coming from the room that their walkway overlooked. Kim considered going for the rappelling line that still hung from the skylight over the room in order to escape the way they came in, but it would be hard to get through all the spinning tops below them. Before she could take action, one of the tops made an erratic spin towards the walkway and hit the support beams raising it up from the floor. Kim braced herself as the walkway collapsed, sending both of them rolling onto the floor.

"Kim, watch out!"

Kim barely got a chance to look up before she saw a flash of blue light and felt herself pulled backwards. A spinning top tore over the ground where she was just laying, sending more debris raining down on them. She looked back at Ron and smiled. He had her back.

The spinning tops bounced off of each other and dug viciously into more walls as Kim and Ron got a moment of breathing room. The room itself was beginning to look like a poorly-made paper-mâché box, lacerated with grooves and cuts from where the tops had dug into it. Kim jumped back as one of the walls began to buckle with an ominous groan, although she was far enough away that it wasn't going in danger of toppling over on her.

Just as it looked like the entire room was going to crumple in on itself, the tops suddenly swerved drunkenly, slowing like helicopter blades being powered down. Their spinning died to a drunken halt as they teetered over and dropped to their sides with a crash. The room was silent, save for a few pieces of plaster and building material that fell to the ground here and there.

As Kim looked around, a loud whooshing noise broke the room's silence. She looked up to see that the second-story door at the end of the collapsed walkway had opened, although there was no longer a walkway for it to open onto.

"Ah, Kim Possible!"

Señor Senior Senior stood above her. He held a remote control device in his hand, which he had used to shut off the spinning tops. Behind him, Kim could see Junior looking down into the room. Behind Junior, she felt a jolt of shock at the sight of a brown head of hair, nearly obscured by Junior's considerable upper body bulk. Although Kim caught a glimpse of a face as well, even the hair was enough to recognize who was standing behind the Seniors: Bonnie Rockwaller.

"And I see you are with your sidekick as well. Tell me, what brings the two of you to my lair?"

Kim looked around the room. It was not in danger of collapsing yet, but she would not have felt comfortable enough to stick around in it for too long.

"You know those spinning tops are really a bad security investment," she pointed out. "I don't understand how they don't just destroy your house every time you let them out."

"You know, I have often thought such a thing myself," said Senior. "The other day we had the skylights open for a little air" - Senior looked up at the circular hole Kim had cut out of the skylight - "and a seagull chose to fly into this room and set off our spinning top release sensors. It took several weeks to rebuild the collapsed walls. And such work is not cheap, let me tell you!"

"Unless you hire non-union," Junior interjected from behind him.

"An excellent point, my son."

"You didn't answer his question," Bonnie told Kim as she shoved the two Seniors aside, almost knocking them out of the doorway and sending them falling into the wrecked room. "What _are_ you two doing here at casa de Seniors?"

"Nice to see you again too, Bonnie."

Ron stepped forward and pointed accusingly at Senior, since his experience on past missions with Kim told him that Junior probably had no idea what was going on in terms of evil schemes. "You stole Drakken's cupcakes!" he screamed. "We want them back!"

Ron's voice echoed through the empty room. He found himself being stared at by four pairs of eyes.

"That is one of the more interesting accusations I have heard," said Senior. "But I am afraid I do not know of what you speak."

Kim would have preferred to make up something else on the spot, and hopefully buy some time to get a better look at the interior of the Senior's lair while they tried to escape, but she wasn't sure what she would have said on such short notice. And either way, Ron had just let the cat out of the bag.

"We're tracking down a shipment of cupcakes that got stolen from a new bakery that Drakken's running," she said. "We know it was taken here, to your island. The jig is up, Senior!"

"A bakery? So that is what Dr. Drakken has been doing in these last few months. I was wondering why I had not heard from him in the usual villain circles lately."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, we were totally surprised too."

"Nevertheless, I must insist that I do not have these cupcakes you speak of. And I do not appreciate my teen foes breaking through skylights in my home and setting off my traps when I have no evil plans under way, and thus cannot speak triumphantly of some successful scheme when I capture you. This is not the way these things are done. You should know better, Kim Possible!"

Kim found herself holding back an urge to apologize for intruding. Senior could be disarmingly charming for a supervillain, and if he was telling the truth, then she supposed they really were intruding. Not that Senior's denial came close to convincing her that he was telling the truth.

"Still," said Senior as he looked down at his unexpected guests, "while you are here, I suppose you may as well stay for a while and enjoy my hospitality. Perhaps we can catch up on the old times."

"That sounds fantastic, father!" exclaimed Junior as he clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

Kim and Bonnie groaned.

XX

Mall shopping: a time honored tradition, and a welcome escape from having to think about things.

The mall in Upperton was the largest Monique had ever seen. It dwarfed Middleton Mall, and although that came with the slight drawback of bigger crowds, Monique was happy enough to deal with the occasional obese man in khakis and a Hawaiian shirt bumping against her when it meant more shopping opportunities. Going to the mall was all about variety. It was about going from shop to shop, knowing you had the choice to buy anything there, even if you weren't necessarily _going_ to buy anything. It one of Monique's most reliable pick-me-ups.

But today, it was not picking her up.

Monique was visiting the mall accompanied by her mantourage, as she liked to call them. They were coworkers, but they had also become good friends, and fortunately they enjoyed shopping almost as much as she did. Steve Toeller and Paul King – or Steel Toe and Pain King, as they were known in the wrestling ring – were dressed in their everyday clothing, which was enough to prevent most of their fans from recognizing them. Pain King's bionic eye was fictional, but Steel Toe really did have a steel foot thanks to a freak industrial accident. Fans occasionally recognized him by the clanking sound his abnormally large right shoe made on hard floors. But even the presence of her friends was not enough to pick up Monique's spirits.

"Turn that frown upside down," said Steve Toeller as he glanced down at his fashionable female friend.

Paul King slapped Monique on the back, and grabbed her shoulder almost immediately afterwards to prevent her from flying into a nearby mall fountain. "Whoops, sorry," he said. "But listen to Steve – you're at the mall! What in the world is giving you that big black cloud over your head?"

They had a point. Monique knew something was wrong when she was in a bad mood at the mall of all places. And she knew exactly what the problem was.

She looked up at the mall's vaulted glass ceiling, at the people milling around on the second floor level, at the colorful signs hanging here and there, and remembered when she first saw the Upperton Mall. Ron had been there, actually. Monique and Kim had both started college, but Kim was still with Ron, and the three of them were visiting for the first time. She smiled when she remembered how excited Ron had been to discover that the mall's food court did, in fact, have a Bueno Nacho. After that discovery, Ron had enthusiastically said he would be hanging out with them at the mall every weekend until Kim and Monique graduated.

"It's just relationship drama," said Monique. "Kim is off on her first mission with Ron in a long time, and I've been getting myself all insecure about it. The two of them knew each other since Pre-K, you know? It's like they have this bond together that I can never really have with Kim. Maybe I shouldn't have broken it."

"Now wait a minute," said Steve, "How did you break it? I remember you telling us that Kim and Ron broke up a while before you and Kim started going out. Don't blame yourself for things that aren't your fault."

"Okay, true. But how do you know that me bein' with Kim isn't what's keeping them apart? I mean, I just don't know how I can compete with a lifetime of two people being best friends."

Paul's eyes darkened as a thought occurred to him. "Why, you think they're up to something on this mission? If Kim's treating you wrong, she's gonna get a double suplex she'll _never_ forget!"

Monique laughed. "Thanks for the vote of support, Paul, but Kim would have you down for the count in about ten seconds. No offense."

Paul and Steve looked at each other and smiled ruefully, knowing their friend was right.

"But no, I don't know if anything is going on between them on this mission. I really don't think so, anyway. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to Kim very much since she left – she even forgot to call me before going. But I don't wanna be the clingy, insecure girlfriend, you know what I mean?"

"You never really struck me that way," said Paul. "You usually come off as very easygoing. Very comfortable with yourself."

Monique knew he was right, but she also knew that appearances could be deceiving. Not to mention that this particular situation with Kim and Ron seemed to have a dimension which bothered Monique in a way that other situations wouldn't. If Kim started spending time with some random guy or girl, no problem. But now that Kim was spending time – for the first time, in a long time – with Ron, Monique felt worried when she should have been excited. Which in turn caused guilt. Which, added to her already boiling cauldron of inner angst, just made a big hot mess of everything.

"I guess I just feel weird sometimes when I think about how things ended between Kim and Ron. I wonder if I was taking advantage of Kim when she needed somebody to turn to after they broke up."

"You said she broke up with Ron though, didn't you? And you waited quite a while before telling her how you felt."

Monique nodded on both counts. She was amazed that Paul and Steve actually listened to, and remembered, the details of her personal life on the occasions that she rambled on about it. They were incredibly attentive for guys. But she supposed that was why they made a good shopping mantourage. Gossip and chats about romance were some of the best things to pair with shopping, after all.

Steve tapped Paul's shoulder and pointed in the direction of the Blueberry Boutique, a recently opened venture owned by the same company that ran Club Banana, but with a wider variety of choices for men and children as well as women. Steve was hoping that Monique could find a nice outfit to cheer her up, but he also needed to get something for his wife. He had spilled a cranberry smoothie all over her dress the last time they went to that craft fair together, and she had been a little frosty around him ever since.

"So when did you first realize you liked Kim?" asked Paul as two of them subtly led Monique towards the store. Normally she needed no direction, but she was definitely in a funk today. "I don't remember if you ever told us about that."

"Oh, I knew I liked her before I even met her," said Monique. "I sorta knew about her whole world saving deal before I moved to Middleton for high school, so when I first met her it was a bit of a celebrity crush kinda deal. And boy, when we got to be friends, it was like – I'm hanging out with _the_ Kim Possible, you know?"

"Why didn't you tell her you liked her, then?"

Monique pondered the question as Steve and Paul began to flip through outfits hung up on the racks. The cashier clerk at the front of the store did a double take at seeing two men who were almost too big to enter the shop holding up women's clothing and silently querying each other for approval.

"It's kind of complicated," said Monique. "I figured out how close she was to Ron pretty quickly after I met her, and I knew they weren't going out, but it was a little intimidating, you know? I felt nervous about trying to get between them. I felt bad about not even sharing the whole 'me being gay' thing with her, but I was a little insecure about that too. My parents aren't exactly cool about that. I mean, I'm not saying they'd disown me or anything, but some of the things I heard them say when I was growing up... I guess I kind of kept it to myself while I was still under their roof."

"That's too bad."

"And I didn't know how Kim felt about it either. I was into being friends with her, and I didn't really wanna mess that up or make her see me differently. Not to mention that I was little miss popular when I was in high school, which wasn't exactly how stuff went for me before I moved to Middleton. I had all this popularity all of a sudden, and I didn't want to put my social position in danger, and I guarantee you Bonnie woulda loved to hear about my preference, so I kept certain feelings quiet."

"Bonnie Rockwaller, right? Kim's arch nemesis."

Monique nodded at Steve. "Man, you guys are good. Bonnie was all about the food chain. Kim hated her, and she bugged me too. I even gave her a hard time by pretending I had a thing for Brick," she laughed. "Boy did that rub her the wrong way! But as heinous as that girl was, she knew how kids worked in high school. It was hard to ignore the food chain. I know Kim fell for the food chain thing too. I think she sorta did the same thing I did in terms of hiding her feelings with Ron, actually, when she dated that Eric guy who turned out to be a synthowhatsit."

Steve and Paul shot each other another look. They had been out of high school for much longer than Monique, but they didn't remember their own high school experiences being so drama-filled. And syntho – whatever Monique had called it? Definitely none of those while they were still in school.

"So it just ended up turning into this B.F.S."

Paul looked down from a dress he and Steve were holding between them. "B.F.S?" he asked.

"Uh, Big - a big secret. It was a big secret."

"Gotcha."

"Especially when it started getting obvious that Kim and Ron were gonna be together, I just felt like I had no chance. There were even a couple times when I tried to change, when I tried to go after guys instead – like this exchange student we had from Japan, Hirotaka. He was pretty fine, don't get me wrong, and I think I was kinda goin' with the flow when all the other girls were into him too. Then Kim was crushing on him too, and it was this whole big thing. Ugh."

"Boys!" exclaimed Steve, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, that's right. But I couldn't change, and I realized it was stupid to try. For the most part I just totally put the whole relationship thing off until college. Once I got into college, I actually told Kim I was into girls. I felt more open about that, you know? Getting some space away from my parents really changed things. Not that I don't love them, it's just – well, it's not like what Kim's got with her folks."

"You want me to be honest?"

Monique raised an eyebrow at Paul's interjection.

"Maybe it depends on how honest. But go ahead."

"It sounds to me like you have some emotional insecurities coming from your life situation and the relationships that you and Kim and Ron all have with each other. Which is perfectly fine, but those are _your_ insecurities, not Kim's. You're letting your own feelings tell you how Kim feels. But I haven't heard any reason to think you should be worrying about Kim and Ron."

"And if you are worrying," added Steve, "you should share your feelings with her. After all, finally 'fessing up about how you felt was how you got her in the first place, right? Relationships are all about open communication."

"Yeah, try communication when she's on a mission," said Monique, adding a faint _hmph!_ to the end of her statement and folding her arms together for emphasis. "I'd have to kidnap Wade if I wanted her full attention."

"Who's Wade again?"

"Forget about it."

Steve returned his attention to the outfits on the racks. He had already seen a few dresses that would look great on his wife, but he supposed that right now, he and Paul needed to cheer up Monique. Even though that was probably a lost cause. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Monique so flustered about something, and while he knew she had a complicated history with Kim and Ron, he hadn't quite realized how insecure she was about it.

He was getting the impression that she wasn't really listening to their advice so much as venting. But then, sometimes you just needed to vent. Steve was lucky enough to have wrestling as a venting outlet with Paul. It did wonders for his easygoing personality outside the ring.

"How about this one?" Paul asked Monique as he fished a saucy green number out of a clearance rack towards the back of the store where they had drifted in their conversation.

Monique gave the dress a cursory glance and snapped her fingers dismissively. "That's a fashion _don't_."

"You're the expert."

Steve turned and knocked over a rack of clothing on the sales floor, his considerable girth making it difficult to turn in the small shop without hitting something accidentally. He was in the process of leaning over and righting it again when a shadow fell over him.

"Hey mister!"

Steve looked up to see a boy standing in front of him.

"You're Steel Toe, right? I know 'cause of that huge shoe!"

Steve laughed. "Yes, that's right, I'm Steel Toe. Nice to meet you."

"And that's Pain King?"

Paul nodded and gave the boy a friendly handshake, which the boy had not expected. Judging by the look on the boy's face, Monique hoped that was not his writing hand that Paul was shaking.

"What are the two of you doing together?" the boy asked.

"Well, Paul and I are friends with Monique here, and both of us have a bit of a soft spot for accessorizing, so we thought we'd take a-" Steve looked at the boy's confused expression and realized his horrible mistake. "I mean, uh, Pain King? What the – it's Pain King, right next to me, in disguise! I didn't even know he was nearby!"

Steve pointed at Paul as the veins popped from his neck.

"YOU! I'm gonna DESTROY you in the ring next week! I hope you're ready to get a STEEL TOE to the FACE, punk!"

With that, Steve ran wildly from the shop. He knocked over several clothing racks as he left, to the obvious consternation of the cashier clerk at the front of the store, who watched the new work that had just been created for her. Monique and Paul stared at Steve as he disappeared into the mall's crowds of shoppers. The boy shrugged and walked off to continue his shopping.

"Man, you two are really dedicated," said Monique.

Paul nodded. "Have to stay in character and please the fans," he said. "It's why I always let the match get thrown in Steel Toe's favor. You think he'd ever beat me if we were in a wrestling match that wasn't choreographed?"

"Keep tellin' yourself that, buddy."

Paul chuckled. They would have to look for Steve in the mall later – it usually took him a few minutes to realize the fan who recognized him was gone and he didn't need to keep running. But for now, it was back to looking for good outfits in a feeble attempt to cheer up his angst-filled friend. It was the least Paul could do in return for that great _luchador_ mask she made for his next match.

XX

"So what about you?" asked Ron. "Still trying to get your name in lights?"

Junior found Ron's question puzzling.

"What are these lights you speak of?"

"No, I mean, are you still trying to get famous. With the singing and acting and all that."

"Oh yes. Well, I was trying to begin my singing career for some time, but fame is a fickle mistress, Ron Stoppable. The small people, they just cannot understand my great talent. Or maybe they are jealous," Junior added thoughtfully. "Yes, perhaps both of those things."

Ron nodded as he soaked in the sunlight. The two of them were sitting out on blankets and sunbathing in the courtyard of the Seniors' island lair. Kim was inside with Señor Senior Senior and Bonnie, probably talking about something mission-related, but Ron had insisted on trying out the pool. It was very kind of the Seniors to extend such hospitality to their guests, but then, they were always pleasant supervillains to visit. At least when they weren't strapping Ron to a conveyor belt below a corn dog freezing laser. But hey, everybody made mistakes sometimes.

"You know, I coulda been a rapper if I wanted to," said Ron as he thought about Junior's aspirations. "I was on American Starmaker once."

"I remember," said Junior.

He had in fact seen Ron on the show when it first aired, and his reaction to seeing his teen foe's performance had been a mix of jealousy and grudging admiration. Of course, Ron Stoppable's rapping was no match for his own silky pop stylings, but not everyone could hope to match Junior in creative talent. Some people were just born with it, after all.

"I even wrote a couple songs for Kim. She won a talent show at school with one of them!"

"I was surprised to hear that you and Kim are no longer together."

Ron tipped his sunglasses and looked over at Junior. "How did you hear that? I didn't think we mentioned it since we got here."

"Everyone has heard about that," said Junior dismissively. "It is common knowledge in the villain circles."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. The two of you are famous among supervillains. At least, Kim Possible is famous, and it was surprising to hear that she would go out with a dorky sidekick in the first. No offense," he added quickly when he noticed Ron's frown. "And so the news that the two of you had broken up was passed around as well."

"Hmm. How much do you supervillains types know about our personal lives?"

"You would be surprised. There are magazines devoted to teen heroes such as yourselves around the world. And other vigilantes, people who save the world, anyone of that type. It is a popular topic of interest with the villains."

"Why?"

Junior thought about it. He was not as heavily involved in villainy as his father, but he had seen enough to get an impression of the culture. "It is somewhat like when a normal person is interested in famous criminals, yes? Well, you see, the criminals are interested in reading about the good guys, too. My father, do you know, he attends role playing getaways with some of his supervillain acquaintances?"

"Uh – role playing?"

The term carried a certain vibe that made Ron wonder if he was going to regret asking for more information, but he couldn't resist. "What do they do when they're role playing?"

"They fight each other as they pretend to be good guys. Some of them are just themselves, and some of them will pretend to be the good guys. It is like cops and robbers, you see. Global Justice maybe, some other heroes. I have also seen some of my father's villain acquaintances pretend to be Team Go sometimes. But often you and Kim Possible are popular choices. My father particularly likes to role play as Kim. He has several mission outfits much like hers in his closet. I tell him, father, your stomach is showing, that top clearly does not fit you, but what can I say? He does not listen!"

Ron felt his stomach shudder as the food that the Seniors had given their guests earlier began to churn in protest. He was glad the pool was nearby. Curiosity really _did_ kill the cat.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear anything you just said."

Junior shrugged indifferently as he propped himself up on his blanket, reaching for some more suntan lotion to apply to his already glistening muscles. The afternoon was wearing on, and the sun was beginning to go down, but the day still had a little light left to enjoy.

"What about you and Bonnie?" asked Ron. "I guess I totally forgot about you two being together at the end of high school. Seems like that's working out pretty well, huh?"

"I do not know. We are engaged, but we have been for a long time. It is true that I love her, and she seems to be taking more of my father's attention when it comes to the business of the supervillainy. He wants her to follow in his footsteps, which is good, since I do not personally care about the villainy so much. I am an artiste, you see?

"But she is a very bossy woman," he added. Junior looked around before continuing, as if making sure that no one was spying on them. "And sometimes, Ron Stoppable, do not tell her this, but sometimes I am very frightened when we are in bed and I only want to read a magazine or go to sleep, but Bonnie does not listen! She says Junior, I am entitled to-"

"Oh boy!" shouted Ron. "Will you look at the time I guess we should be going in now Kim and I have to finish our mission and look for those cupcakes bye!"

Ron shot up from his towel like it had just turned to lava. He grabbed his personal bottle of suntan lotion and removed his sunglasses, about to head towards the house's patio, when the front door opened and Señor Senior Senior came out with Kim and Bonnie in tow.

"Ron Stoppable," he said. "I have invited you and Kim Possible to stay the night at our humble home. Although you have utterly destroyed my trap room and falsely accused me of thievery, I am still delighted to have the company of my worthy foes after so long an absence."

Ron looked over at Kim questioningly, and she nodded her head to confirm that she wanted them to stay for the night. Ron wasn't sure if she had discovered anything yet, but his best guess was that she wanted a little more time to snoop around the Senior's island. Otherwise, he couldn't imagine why she would want to spend more time than necessary around Bonnie.

"Alright, sure thing dude. Thanks for the invite!"

Senior nodded as he motioned for Ron and his son to accompany him back into the house. Ron folded up his towel and followed everyone inside. While he was watching Senior, he had an image of cargo pants and a midriff-baring mission suit that almost made him retch again. After what Junior had told him, Ron was hoping that if the night had any unpleasant surprises, they would be of the typical supervillain ambush variety.

_Please oh please,_ he thought. _No role playing!_

XX_

* * *

_

_**Notes** - I actually totally forgot about Monique's little competition with Kim over Hirotaka when I was first writing this story. I could have just made her bisexual to some degree and pretty much ignored it, but I thought it might be more interesting to play with Monique's past (canon and non-canon) a little more and give the Hirotaka thing a little spin. Maybe it was believable, maybe not. But I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and thanks to those who are reviewing.  
_


	8. Second Time's the Charm

**Second Time's the Charm**

XX

It was early in the morning, and all through the lair, not a creature was stirring – except for Kim Possible.

Kim and Ron had accepted Señor Senior Senior's offer to stay for the night. There was certainly a chance that Senior was luring them into a trap, but then, he could have captured them with the Spinning Tops of Doom, and he didn't, so maybe he was telling the truth about not being a cupcake thief. Either way, Kim had no intention of sleeping. If the Cupcake Containment Chamber was here on the island somewhere, she would find it, and it couldn't hurt to make sure the Seniors weren't up to any other nefarious schemes while she was here.

She crept silently down the halls of the Senior's home, checking each room as she went. Wade was also awake in case Kim needed to call him on the Kimmunicator, and he was keeping tabs on the lair from the computer bank in his bedroom, checking for possible traps. If one did get set off by Kim's snooping, she supposed she would try the old 'couldn't sleep and got up for a glass of water' excuse. Lame, but maybe a good bet with her hosts, since Señor Senior Senior would immediately lead her to the kitchen and pour it himself.

She turned on her wrist Kimmunicator and whispered to Wade. "Any updates?"

"I'm not registering any more traps, besides the fish."

Kim shuddered at the recollection of the hungry koi trap she had stumbled through in the darkness of a previous room. Fortunately the lasers had not noticed her for some reason, but the fish had been hungry. Their toothless mouths were harmless, but their bites on Kim's legs produced a sort of suction sensation that she found, for lack of a better word, gross. It was a pretty weak trap – even Frugal Lucre's snapping turtles were more dangerous - but she had to give the Seniors points for imagination.

Then again, maybe she had just fallen into a regular indoor koi pond filled with fish that Junior neglected to keep well fed.

"What about the Cupcake Containment Chamber?" she asked. "Are you picking up any readings from it? Or anything else that looks weird, for that matter?"

"Nope. Either they've got good jamming signals running, or there's nothing very fishy going on in that house. Except-"

"Don't say it, Wade."

"Sorry."

The variety of rooms that could be found in the Senior's private island home was astounding. Kitchens, dining rooms, bedrooms, and guest rooms, of course, but also a number of specialized rooms including the indoor bar and lounge where, earlier that night, Kim and Ron had been treated to Junior's stunning karaoke renditions of his own songs. Kim remembered Junior's off-key singing and wondered if it was karaoke when you were singing your own original music.

Earlier, she had even stumbled upon what looked like some kind of indoor theater room with a big wooden stage and red curtains drawn back to the sides. A smaller dressing room had been hidden in the back, behind the stage. Kim had opened a closet in the dressing room and found a number of outfits, one of which looked almost identical to her mission suit. The sight of the outfit had made her shudder involuntarily, although she had no idea why. It was probably a coincidence. Her mission suit was not that unusual looking. Still, she had left that particular room quickly, deciding there was nothing to see there.

Kim came upon another door in the hallway she was talking, and opened it as quietly as possible to find herself staring at a stunning view. She was in some kind of library, or maybe a study room, with bookcases lined up along the walls and filled to the brim with thick volumes bound in leather. There was even a spiral staircase which led up to a smaller study nook on a second-floor ledge within the room. It was hard to see up there, but it looked like the study nook was also lined in bookcases. One corner of the room in which Kim was standing had several leather chairs and end tables organized around a fireplace. _A fireplace for a library on a Mediterranean island,_ Kim thought. _Must be decoration._

The stunning view, however, was not of the books. One wall of the room, opposite the door, was covered from floor to ceiling by a plate glass window that overlooked the ocean. Kim entered the room and walked closer to the window. A small, rocky beach below the window stretched out for a handful of yards before abruptly cutting off into the ocean. It was early in the morning, and the moon was still out, but the light outside was bright enough that Kim could still enjoy the view. With accommodations like this, Kim wondered if she was in the wrong line of study. Maybe Upperton University offered a program in supervillainy.

"Hey."

Kim yelled out in surprise and stumbled backwards, knocking over a globe that had been set up beside a leather chair. She grabbed the arm of the chair before falling down completely and looked in the direction from which the noise had come. Bonnie had just gotten out of one of the chairs near the fireplace; Kim had not even noticed her in the darkness. She stood and looked out at the view that Kim had just been enjoying.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Couldn't sleep," said Bonnie. She held up a glass that she was holding in her hand. "Got thirsty. I was just walking around the house and thought I'd come in here and look at the ocean for a little while."

"Ah. Well, uh, that's totally what I was doing too."

"Sure, K."

Kim took the liberty of moving another leather chair so that it faced the windows and sat down. Bonnie looked back at her old enemy and returned to her own seat, sipping at her glass of water while the two of them listened to the faint sound of the crashing surf coming through the window from outside.

"Soooo," said Bonnie after a long silence between the two of them. "Finally gave up on the dork, huh?"

"I don't think that's the way to put it," said Kim.

"Whatever makes you feel less guilty. So who did you ditch him for? Mankey?"

"I haven't seen him since high school. I'm in a relationship with Monique now."

Kim flinched at the sound of Bonnie spraying out a mouthful of water from her drink. "For real?" she asked, her voice near shouting level.

"Yes, for real. The two of us go to Upperton together. I found out how she felt about me sometime after Ron and I broke up, and well – things just kind of happened."

"What does that mean, you're into girls now or something?"

"I haven't really given it a lot of thought," Kim said with a shrug. "Monique was there for me after Ron and I kind of fell apart, which made me feel closer to her. But I was kind of freaked when I learned how she felt, to be honest. I asked her to give me some time to think about it, and eventually I ended up liking her as more than friends."

Kim wasn't sure why she was being so open with Bonnie, who had not only been her high school social nemesis but was apparently in a long term relationship with the son of one of her supervillain foes. Maybe she just enjoyed catching up with a familiar face, even if it Bonnie's face. Not only that, but when Kim thought about it, she didn't really have a lot of close friends to talk to about her life since high school. Acquaintances, maybe, but Kim rarely made close friends. First there had been Ron - then there was Monique.

"You know," said Bonnie, "I guess it kind of makes sense when I think about it. Sometimes in high school I did kind of feel like Monique was checking me out."

"_So_ not likely. I think that's just your self-absorption talking, Bonnie."

"Come on," said Bonnie as she motioned over herself. "You're saying that if you weren't with Monique, you wouldn't be totally drooling over this?"

"Oh, please," scoffed Kim.

Bonnie put her glass of water on an end table beside her chair and returned to watching the ocean. Although she was silent, Bonnie was giving off an insulted vibe, which Kim found amusing to no end. Even if Bonnie had never expressed any interest in girls herself, she was still shocked by the idea that any girl who had ever expressed interest in any other girl would not find her irresistible as well.

"What about you?" asked Kim. "How come you haven't ditched the boy toy yet?"

"Why would I? He's exactly my type."

"To be honest, I thought he was a rebound from Brick."

"Nope. Junior can be annoying, but he's all mine. We're engaged, you know. Brick never really paid enough attention to me. He was too independent."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. You know I heard he's with Justine now? Apparently they were dating in secret towards the end of high school, but they kept it quiet because they didn't think their social circles would approve. I guess the nerds can be just as vicious as the jocks when it comes to enforcing the food chain."

"Brick with Justine?" Bonnie laughed, which turned into a brief choke as a sip of water went down the wrong pipe. "_G-gack_ – ahem! That's the dumbest pairing I ever heard of."

Kim shrugged noncommittally. Maybe she was wrong; it was just what she had heard on the grapevine, and it made no difference to her if Bonnie believed it.

The two of them lapsed into silence again as they watched the view of the Mediterranean through the window. The sun still wasn't up, but the blue wash of the sky was growing brighter by small degrees. Kim wanted to ask Bonnie about the mission, about whether the Seniors were up to something – possibly something involving cupcakes – but she didn't know how to broach the subject. Maybe, she decided after a moment of thought, it was best to be direct with Bonnie.

"So is your future father-in-law still a supervillain?"

Bonnie stammered for a moment. "Why would I tell you?" she asked.

"Well, do you really want your cash cow going to jail? It might be best if you let me know what he's up to so we could nip it in the bud before Senior gets himself into trouble." Kim knew she was stretching, but it was the most likely way to get anything out of Bonnie. "Come on, do you know if he's planning any evil schemes? Did he steal Drakken's cupcake shipment?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes at the mention of cupcakes. "Kim, your missions are really hitting the bottom of the pathetic bucket. I mean, cupcakes? Seriously?"

"Actually, we already dealt with cupcakes in the past. Drakken had a cupcake operation going that was a front for a world domination scheme."

"So how do you know he's not just taking you for a ride again?"

"We don't," said Kim. "Although Wade's scanned his warehouse and his bakery and didn't find anything too suspicious, besides absurdly overpowered baking ovens. So unless he's got a lair somewhere else that we haven't found yet, I don't know what he might be up to."

"Maybe the cupcakes have some kind of poison in them. Or like a drug or something."

"I don't think so," said Kim. "Wade would have tested them and told us if they were dangerous, and I ate a couple before I even knew they came from Drakken's shop and I feel fine. Plus I saw Drakken eat some himself when we went to the bakery. They are really good, though," she admitted. "Almost as good as Ron's cooking."

"Whatever," said Bonnie. "I can tell you that Senior didn't steal your cupcakes."

Kim didn't know why, but she got the feeling that she could trust Bonnie. Maybe it was the fact that they had shared a conversation that – while prickly – did not end in a vicious fight. More likely than that, however, as bad as Bonnie had been in high school, Kim knew she was a little biased when it came to the girl. Assuming Bonnie was actually bad enough to be in league with a supervillain was probably unfair on her part.

"If you're finished interrogating me, I think I'm going to try to get a little more sleep," said Bonnie as finished her water and rose from her chair.

"Good idea. Ron and I should be leaving early tomorrow."

"I'll miss you," said Bonnie.

The statement was sarcastic, but it did give Bonnie a pause. She didn't think she would miss Kim Possible, but it had been nice to see a high school classmate again, even if that classmate had been an insufferable goody-two-shoes. Maybe she wouldn't mind seeing Kim again in another few years. Just for a day or so.

XX

_Ron... Ron, wake up._

Ron opened his eyes to find Kim Possible shaking him insistently. He had been merrily skipping through fields of ripening Nacos with his best buddy Rufus, but Bueno Nacho would have to wait for now. It was time to finish their mission.

"It's time to go," said Kim.

"Did we figure anything out? Are the cupcakes here?"

"I don't think so. Wade and I looked around the place overnight and didn't see anything. No jet, no cupcake thieves, no cupcakes. And Bonnie seemed to think Senior had nothing to do with it. But it's time to go - Will Du is waiting for us outside in the Global Justice jet."

Ron sat up from his covers, yawning and stretching as Kim left the room and made her way towards the jet parked on a roof of the Senior's house. Señor Senior Senior had been forced to move his helicopter into the courtyard to allow the jet to land on his villa's roof helipad, since it wasn't quite maneuverable enough to land anywhere else on the rocky island without things getting a little dicey. Senior didn't seem very enthused about Global Justice coming to pick his guests up either. Kim found it strange that she was worried about being too imposing on her enemies when she had investigated them for possible supervillainy on many occasions.

Senior, Junior, and Bonnie were waiting for her on the roof when she arrived. The jet was still powered up and ready to go, and Will Du stood nearby with an impatient look.

"Your company was a pleasure, my dear," said Senior as he stooped a little to kiss Kim's hand.

"Thanks for having me. And, uh, sorry about accusing you of stealing those cupcakes."

"An unfortunate misunderstanding, I am sure."

Will Du approached the group from his jet. He had been holding back a little, unwilling to converse with the enemy, but now that Kim had arrived he felt a little more comfortable about approaching the Seniors. "Where are we going now?" he asked. Ron appeared from the roof hatch and rushed over to join the group, still struggling to get his shirt on correctly.

"I really have no idea," said Kim. "If we can't find out where those thieves went with their jet, then we're out of luck. For all we know, they were just misleading us and changed direction as soon as they dropped the tracking signal."

"Perhaps they have something to do with the villains on the other side of the Mediterranean," suggested Junior. "what do you think, father?"

"I do not know what you speak of, son. Please, do not waste our guest's time."

"But father, you know the island! We even looked at it ourselves when we first chose to make our home here. Someone was building their own lair on the island last year!"

"Where is this?" asked Kim, her interest piqued.

"To the east, a few miles from the coast of Cyprus," said Junior. "I am not aware of the exact location."

"That's alright, I'm sure Wade can figure it out."

Will Du listened to the conversation, still a little tense from the close proximity to supervillainy. He knew he wasn't breaking any Global Justice protocols, seeing as he had the rule book memorized, but it still seemed wrong to be so chummy with them somehow. "Do you think the jet was traveling past the Senior's island on the way to this newcomer's lair before it dropped its tracking device?" he asked.

"Seems like our best bet at the moment."

"Alright," said Ron. "Island hopping. Not bad for a first mission!"

Will Du accepted Senor Senior Senior's handshake with forced courtesy, and then returned quickly to the jet and disappeared inside. Kim said her goodbyes and followed close behind him.

"See you later, Stoppable," said Bonnie. "It was nice catching up with you, even though I'm not sure we talked at all while you were here."

"Uh, yeah, that's a shame."

The two ex-classmates stood uncomfortably for a moment.

"It was nice to catch up with you, Ron Stoppable," said Junior. "I see you have conquered your cowlick problem, by the way. What is your secret?"

"Oh, crazy thing, it just kinda flattened out in the last year or so!"

"I am quite jealous. I must still use Le Goop for my own hair. But I do not mean to keep you from your important mission. I am sure we will meet again someday, Ron Stoppable!"

"Definitely," said Ron as he boarded the jet with an exaggerated wave. "See you folks later - I'm off to save the world! Maybe. Okay, I have no idea, it depends on what the cupcakes are being stolen for, but me and KP are off to do something pretty important, I'm su-"

Ron's words were cut off as Will Du got tired of waiting in the cockpit for takeoff, went back into the passenger's section, pulled up the boarding ramp, and closed the passenger door. After a moment, the jet lifted off and tore though the sky to its next island destination.

XX

The bakery was bustling with activity when Wade arrived for a little mission planning with Drakken and Hank. It was clear that Drakken was becoming far more successful as an entrepreneur than he had ever been as a supervillain. Wade wondered how much of that was Hank Perkin's positive influence.

Wade felt strange collaborating with Kim, Ron, and a pair of their old enemies, but he supposed that things changed. People changed, too. Today Wade had decided to take a few of his laptops in a backpack and spend some time at Drakken's bakery instead of being cooped up in his room. Partly it was to involve Drakken more in the mission process and keep an eye on him, but partly it was because Wade wanted to grab a sample to take back to his room for later. Assuming he could resist eating it this time.

"Welcome, Kim's computer nerd sidekick!" said Drakken at the sight of Wade standing in the shop entrance. "Please, have a seat!"

Wade looked at the booths and the stools lined up against the counter. Every seat in the room was full.

"Uh, doesn't look like any are available. Maybe we should just go back into the employee area?"

Drakken frowned as he looked around the dining area. It was definitely crowded. "No, that won't be necessary," he said. "You two, in that booth! Please leave."

The man and woman to whom Drakken was speaking looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry?" the man said.

"We need this booth. I must ask you to leave, now."

"But we're paying customers!"

"Don't care, I'm the boss. Scram!"

The couple got up indignantly and grabbed a couple of their remaining cupcakes before clearing out. Drakken shooed them with a pair of tiny hands, and the woman turned back with an obscene gesture before storming out of the door.

"Please come again!" yelled Drakken just before the door closed. "Alright, now it's time to get down to business. Hank, get in here!"

Hank Perkins popped in from the employee area and recognized his love instantly by the black mullet poking out over the back of a booth. Across from Drew sat that technical genius that helped Kim Possible with her missions, including her current cupcake pursuit. Hank joined the two of them as Wade removed his laptops from his backpack, along with a few other assorted electronic knick-knacks, and arranged them meticulously around the booth table.

"Three laptops?" said Drakken. "Even I'm not _that_ nerdy."

"Don't dis the equipment," said Wade. "Maybe you should remember that I was always the one hacking into your system and helping Kim figure out all your schemes."

"_Nnnngh._ I was only joshing you – there's no need to be condescending."

Wade had not heard from Kim since earlier that morning when the two of them were checking out the Seniors' island, which had been largely fruitless, but he knew that Kim would be leaving at any moment. Unfortunately, Kim had told him that she had no idea what to do next, and Wade wasn't much better off. He called Kim up on one of the laptops, and that familiar crown of fiery hair popped onto the screen in less than an instant.

"Kim, I'm here with Drakken and Hank Perkins. I thought maybe we could do a little brainstorming."

"No need right now, Wade," said Kim. Wade could tell from the scene behind her that she was already flying on the Global Justice jet with Ron. "We've got a lead."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Junior told us there's a new villain's lair that was recently set up on some other island in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Cyprus. He didn't have the exact location, and Senior didn't seem keen on sharing info. We were wondering if you could find anything."

"I'm on it."

Drakken and Hank watched in wonder as Wade went back and forth between his laptops, typing as effortlessly as a maestro at a piano. Seeing Wade hard at work was poetic, hypnotizing – Kim was lucky to have such a henchman. Drakken wished he had people like Wade backing him up instead of incompetents like that Assad Sacke over at the warehouse.

"Hey everybody," said Assad Sacke as he joined the group at the booth. "What are we doing over here?"

"What are _you_ doing over here?" asked Drakken as he stared dumbstruck at his floor manager.

Hank laughed at the question and punched Drakken playfully on the arm. "You closed the warehouse, remember silly? All the expansion is on hold until we can take care of this little cupcake shoplifting problem of ours. I asked Assad to clock in a few hours over here instead."

"Oh yes. Hmm. Well then, Assad, what do you want?"

"Just thought I'd stop by," said Assad. He blinked and looked around the table, his black eyes still noticeable but no longer swollen. As Wade typed, oblivious to his surroundings, Assad smiled nervously. "Also, there may be a small grease fire in the kitchen."

Drakken groaned as Hank got up in a flash.

"Consider it taken care of, Drew!"

"Hank," shouted Drakken as he looked back at the two of them running off towards the kitchen. "Remember, pan lid or baking soda! Don't throw water on it!"

"Gotcha!"

Drakken was glad the safety inspectors from the Fire Department had already visited yesterday. He turned back to the booth and saw Wade grin triumphantly at something on one of his laptops and spoke to the open connection he had with Kim Possible.

"Found it, Kim. I can't tell if it's a lair or just some kind of vacation getaway, but it was built within the last year and it looks suspicious. Not only that, but guess what the icing on the cupcake is?"

Kim rolled her eyes.

"Well I thought it was funny," grumbled Wade. "Anyway, it's right in the trajectory of where the tracking device would have been headed if it hadn't disappeared beforehand. And I don't see that jet we were following, but the place has a landing area and a building that looks like a hangar. Coordinates sent."

"Thanks, Wade. We're on our way."

Wade crackled his knuckles in satisfaction and then placed his hands behind his head, stretching a little in smug satisfaction. Let Drakken call him a nerd now!

"We may have to evacuate the bakery in a moment," said Drakken as he sniffed at the air, which was beginning to carry the acrid tinge of smoke.

Wade's satisfaction disappeared as he began to wonder if the cupcakes were going to catch on fire. The fire alarm in the dining area went off for a moment, but Hank Perkins came rushing out of the kitchen, beating at it with an old dishrag until the smoke dissipated. After a moment the alarm turned off again, and Hank went back into the kitchen to return a moment later with a tray of cupcakes in hand.

"Don't worry," he told the other customers. "Everything is under control!"

Hank sat down at the booth with Drakken and Wade, putting the tray of cupcakes on the table. "These are from the reserve batch," he said with a pointed look at Drakken, "but we'll need to spend some time cleaning out the Bakinator 2000. It's gotten a little ashy. Again."

Drakken sniffed haughtily. He knew that Hank was making another veiled jab at his creation.

"Cupcake, Wade?" he asked as he offered his tech helper the tray.

"Don't mind if I do!" said Wade, grabbing a cupcake.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to go check on the kitchen with Hank for a moment."

"Sure."

Wade watched as the couple left the booth and entered the kitchen, bickering at each other about ovens and power levels. Once he was sure that they weren't looking, he took the cupcake he had grabbed from the tray, unpeeled its paper cup, and placed it back on the table as if he had eaten it before wrapping the cupcake itself in a napkin and stowing it in his backpack.

He would need to do some tests later; recently, he had been wondering if perhaps there was something off about the cupcakes themselves. It wasn't likely, as he had seen Drakken eating cupcakes before, and had even eaten one himself when he first called Kim and Ron about the mission. A stupid mistake, he had to admit, but they were so tasty it was hard to resist. And he certainly didn't feel poisoned or brainwashed. Kim and Ron had eaten some as well, and they seemed fine. Regardless, it was best to be on the safe side and explore every possibility.

XX

"I've actually got a special degree program going on with the university," said Kim. "To be honest, I was way freaked when I first got to college and saw all the options, so I just took classes all over the place, and I did well enough that my advisors and professors worked with me to make something more unique."

Kim had been talking with Ron in a surprisingly civil manner ever since the two of them had left the Seniors' island. The topics of conversation had veered towards small talk for a while - comments on the weather, good television shows they had seen lately, how strange Bonnie and the Seniors were, speculation on what Drakken could be up to other than a legitimate food service career - but now the conversation was steering itself in a more personal direction, as Ron wanted to know what kinds of plans were in Kim's future.

"How long until you graduate?"

"About a year," said Kim. "I would have graduated earlier but I'm covering a lot of stuff. International law, psychology, criminal justice, political science, you name it. I might actually be taking a semester abroad when my senior year starts, though. I'm applying for an internship in Japan, working for the embassy. I thought it could be interesting to visit Yamanouchi while I was there and try to pick up some skills, since it's not like there's much I can get from martial arts classes anymore."

The intercom crackled as Will Du spoke from the cockpit. "You could intern with Global Justice in Japan," he suggested. "We have numerous martial arts and hands-on training programs, which I am sure you would benefit from."

Kim looked up at the round gray speaker above her, set into the ceiling of the jet. "Um, Will, could you stop listening in on our conversation? A little privacy, please and thank you?"

"Very well."

_Going away to Yamanouchi_, Ron thought. _To learn martial arts._

Kim had mentioned Yamanouchi so casually that it took Ron a moment to register what she had said. Yamanouchi was a sore subject with him after what had happened between the two of them. He wondered if Kim was even aware of his feelings on the matter. Either way, the reference irked him a little.

"You're not worried about going away for a semester?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it would mean being long distance with Monique. I just thought that might be a drawback. After all, think about what happened between the two of us when we ended up in different places."

"I don't think that will be a problem. It's only a semester."

"So things are pretty heavy between you two?"

"Yes, Ron. I live with her, after all."

The conversation trailed off as Kim wondered why Ron had asked whether a semester abroad would hurt things between her and Monique. She hoped it wasn't because he was still hung up on her. Their breakup had been well over a year ago, and while Kim knew that it was a big deal for the both of them, a person had to move on eventually. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps Ron was just being vindictive. Perhaps he was jealous of her success, of the path her life was taking, and wanted to make her insecure. But Kim felt guilty as soon as she considered the notion. Ron couldn't be that mean. Most likely, he was just trying to make an honest parallel between taking a semester abroad away from Monique, and when Kim went to Upperton while Ron stayed in Middleton. She didn't think it was a valid comparison, but then, it didn't mean he was trying to be petty either.

"What about you?" she asked, wanting to shift the focus away from herself. "What kind of plans do you have in your future?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. I still gotta beat the new_ Zombie Mayhem_, and I was talking to Rufus the other day about figuring out a new Mexican entrée. Maybe we could sell it to Bueno Nacho and get another one of those royalty checks. Oh, and me and Mr. Barkin have to reorganize Smarty Mart's exotic animals section pretty soon, we've got some new species coming in that need a lot of room."

"So you're planning on staying at Smarty Mart?"

"Well, I applied for a few jobs, but like I said, Martin Smarty turned me down."

Kim frowned. It sounded like Ron was not really thinking much about his future. Playing _Zombie Mayhem_ certainly didn't do anything to improve his situation, and while Ron did have a flair for experimenting with food, Kim honestly thought that the Naco had been a bit of a fluke, especially since they had stopped further royalties after giving Ron a legalese-filled notice about the first check being a one time payment for ownership of the Naco brand. She thought Ron would be better off pursuing his passion in food through different routes.

"I always expected you to go to culinary school," she told him. "Have you thought about more education yet?"

"I applied to a lot of colleges when I graduated, remember?"

"You can always try again."

"Look," said Ron, a little curtly, "not everything is possible for everybody the way it is for you, okay KP?"

Kim looked taken aback, but further conversation was stifled as, instead of speaking over the intercom, Will Du stepped out from the cockpit again. "I am not trying to interrupt your privacy," he said, "but we are about to pass over the island. You two should get ready. The island is larger than the one owned by the Seniors - I could land the jet and accompany the two of you, if you'd like."

"No thank you," said Kim as she got her parachute ready. "I work best alone."

Ron caught the comment and wondered if she meant it to sound the way it came out.

"Come on Ron, let's wrap this thing up. This island had better be the right one."

Will opened up the passenger door and, for the second time that weekend – the second time in what felt like forever, actually – Ron felt himself yanked out of the jet and into the clear blue sky.

The island below them was a little bit larger than the Seniors' island, and as it steadily drew closer, Ron restrained his severe nauseousness enough to see that there was in fact a hangar on the island along with a small complex of buildings. Much like the Seniors' home, it was hard to tell if they were approaching a lair or just another private island villa. Ron supposed that building a lair in the Mediterranean required a certain amount of style and comfort. It wasn't like a mountain lair nestled in the Alps, where you could essentially put it inside some cave or go for the 'imposing fortress of doom' aesthetic.

The two of them tumbled through the air, closer, closer, until Kim took the liberty of pulling his parachute cord as well as her own. Their descent slowed as they angled closer to the island. For a moment, Ron wondered if they were going to hit the shallow water before reaching the beach, but the breeze pushed them just barely onto wet sand. Kim skillfully unhooked her parachute in a running landing, while Ron tangled himself in his own for a few moments before breaking free. He was glad that this island didn't seem as craggy as the one which the Seniors had chosen to build their home.

"Over there," said Kim as she pointed to a copse of palm trees just past the small beach. "Let's take cover for a minute and scope the place out."

Kim sprinted towards the palm trees and hoped there were no guards patrolling on the beach to see their footprints, although she hadn't sighted any yet. She should have been worrying about whether or not they would be captured, whether she was out of practice, whether some new supervillain was lying in wait. But at that moment, Kim found herself wondering whether or not those ninja thieves had already eaten all the cupcakes.

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - Hope everybody is having fun over the holidays. I've been spending time with family and playing way too much Call of Duty with my brother._


	9. The Clash

**The Clash**

XX

Just past the hangar was a short stretch of flat, grassy field. Just past the field was a chain-linked fence topped with barbed wire, interrupted by the occasional watchtower. Just past the fences and towers, up a hilly incline, and concealed behind an outcropping of rocks and bushes, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable surveyed the scene before them.

"You think that's them?" asked Ron.

The two of them watched a scattered handful of henchmen in their line of sight.

"I don't know. They _are_ pretty big."

Ron was wondering whether they were the ninja thieves they had been pursuing by air. Although the henchmen were not wearing black suits or masks, Kim supposed those outfits could have been for infiltration alone, and they did have the same burly, top-heavy physiques as the thieves at Drakken's warehouse.

A couple of them stood in the watchtowers, looking very bored, while another henchman was pacing back and forth across the grassy field that lay between the fence and the hangar. The island had been almost empty of guards when Kim and Ron arrived, but soon after they began to scope out the facility, a few of them had popped into sight. It was almost as if they had woken up near noon and gotten to their guard posts late.

"See anything?" asked Ron

Kim zoomed in with a pair of high-tech spy binoculars she had fished out of her pack. Her eyes flinched as the binoculars caught the glare of the hanger's corrugated tin roof, shimmering in the sun's heat. The windows on the side of the hangar facing them were clear enough to see through, and she trained her binoculars at one of them. Sure enough, she could see the outline of a jet in the hangar's dim interior.

"Is that the one, Wade?" whispered Kim into her Kimmunicator, although the question was barely worth asking. It was obvious they had come to the right place.

"Yep, that's it."

"Where to now?"

"My scans picked up a sewer tunnel emptying into the ocean a few hundred yards from where you're hidden. It's over to your left, you should be able to see it from where you are. If you can get to it, it should go into the base."

"Got it."

Kim moved back as far as she could without leaving the cover of the rocky, bush-covered outcropping in which she and Ron were hidden. The island's coast was right behind her, rockier and more abrupt than the smooth beach where they had first landed. She trained the binoculars along the length of the coast and saw the sewer pipe that Wade was talking about after a few moments. It was big enough to fit through, but she anticipated getting her mission suit dirty. The things she did for justice...

"Let's go, Ron."

The two of them crept out of their hiding spot and kept an eye on the guards. The sewer pipe was not far, and Kim could see that there were only a couple of brief stretches where they would be in plain sight of one of the watchtowers. At that point, Kim would just have to make sure they moved when the guard was not looking. As long as Ron didn't trip over anything or yell something out, they'd be golden.

XX

It was a good thing that guard hadn't heard Ron trip and yell.

"Sorry about that," said Ron as they slogged their way through the sewer pipe on their way towards the interior of the island compound.

"Don't worry about it."

The smell wasn't awful, at least, and Kim had gone through far worse sewers, but she still preferred it when Wade found a nice air vent to infiltrate a lair like he did most of the time. Underwater entrances were okay too, or sneaking in on the back of a truck. Or when she could just barge right in through the front door, which was actually sometimes the best strategy.

"There's an opening just ahead of you," said Wade. "A small utility ladder, leading up into what looks like a maintenance room in the main compound building. Be careful when you get inside though, I'm seeing more of those henchmen milling around outside. It seems like maybe the activity level is picking up towards noon for some reason."

Sure enough, a slight curve in the sewer pipe led Kim and Ron straight to the utility ladder in question. Kim crawled up the ladder and opened the hatch at the top to find herself in a damp-looking maintenance room lit by a single fluorescent light in the ceiling, which cast a sickly yellow tint over the concrete walls. A low, almost soothing thrumming sound came from some maintenance equipment that crowded the already small room. Kim leaned down and helped Ron out of the ladder below.

A small, curved stairway led up from the maintenance room to a door that opened into a short hallway. Kim cracked the door open and looked down both ends of the hall in a quick check for guards, and then motioned for Ron to follow as the two of them made their way out. Wade's technical wizardry was not enough to let them know all the details of the building, so they would have to do things the old fashioned way.

"This is my least favorite part trying to find something in some supervillain's lair," whispered Ron as they crept down the hallway towards the next door. "They always have like a million rooms, and there's no way to know where whatever you're looking for might be-"

Kim opened the door to find the Cupcake Containment Chamber sitting in the center of what looked like a very opulent lounge area.

"Oh, there it is!"

Kim had almost been hoping for a room full of henchmen, as she was getting to get a little antsy for an actual fight. Spinning Tops of Doom were not nearly as fun as a good one on one, and she still needed to teach a lesson to that ninja leader she had fought back at the warehouse. For a mediocre fighter, he had gotten entirely too lucky with some of his hits.

Kim had been expecting to find the Containment Chamber in some kind of well-guarded laboratory, but this room was clearly some kind of recreational area. A gigantic flat-screen television stood beside one wall, surrounded by a leather couch and several matching leather recliners. Speakers were hooked up to the television on either side; speakers that looked like they were loud enough to require anyone watching television to strap themselves into the couch with a seatbelt.

The floor beneath the entertainment center was carpeted, and beyond a couple of steps the floor raised up onto a wooden level with a foosball table and a sleek mini bar complete with stools, a counter, and a shelf full of colorful alcoholic products. A stereo system was tucked into a corner in the far end of the room, again with speakers that almost touched the ceiling. Kim noticed that green was a prevalent color in the room's décor. It seemed a little messy, as well – several empty bottles of alcohol stood at the mini bar, including a couple on the floor near the television and couch, and a few magazines were scattered across the coffee table. Kim thought she spied an empty pizza box thrown in a corner of the room.

A wide glass sliding door was built into the wall across from the door they had entered, which looked like it led out onto a stone patio and courtyard. The outdoor courtyard was enclosed by the compound, and filled decorative trees and bushes, as well as what looked like a pond, although it was obscured by the edge of the door. Kim did not see any henchmen through the glass, but it the wide door did not give them a lot of privacy.

"Hey Kim, check it out!"

Kim had been so busy looking over the room that she had failed to notice Ron sidle over to the Cupcake Containment Chamber. Ron put his hands over the top of the Containment Chamber, and Kim anticipated what he was about to do.

"Ron, no, it has-"

A blue glow lit up around Ron as he channeled a burst of Mystical Monkey Power through his body. The crackling energy was enough to pry the Containment Chamber's lid off, which Ron hefted easily even though it was made of metal and tossed it onto the carpet with a loud thud. The lights on the Containment Chamber suddenly lit up in a festive pattern as a screeching whistle blared through the room.

"It has an alarm mechanism that's disabled with the keypad on the side," Kim finished half-heartedly. Drakken had told them in the bakery, but apparently Ron had not been listening.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" said Ron, but Kim could barely hear him over the blaring alarm coming from the container. She held her ears as she approached the container and looked down into it. It was high enough to almost reach her shoulders, and there were a few cardboard cupcake boxes lined up near the bottom, but it was otherwise empty. There must have been room for a hundred boxes. Had someone eaten the rest?

Kim noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, and looked up to see the glass patio doors opening. Several henchmen had entered the room, and leading the way was the same one that she had fought at the factory. She nudged Ron to get his attention and moved away from the box as the alarm died down.

"You again!" the man said. He flashed Kim a smile and cracked his knuckles as the other henchmen fanned out across the room. "Back to finish what we started?"

"Actually we were just looking for a snack," said Kim as she tilted her head towards the Cupcake Containment Chamber. "But It looks like you guys pigged out. If you're still feeling a little full, we can wait before I beat the stuffing out of you."

Kim smirked in satisfaction when the man's features crunched together into a heated glare. She had obviously gotten a rise out of him. Sometimes it was too easy. Still, the man was maddeningly familiar: tanned skin, sculpted features, blond hair. She knew she had seen him before, but where?

"Midas, what the heck is going on in here? Are you taking my cupcakes without permission ag-"

Kim and Ron jumped and whirled around at the sound of the voice coming from the door they had just used to enter the room. It was Kim's turn to glare at the new arrival.

"Shego!"

"Kim Possible?"

Shego's immediate reaction was bizarre, almost as if she was stricken by the appearance of her two old teen foes, but before Kim could make any sense of it, she had pulled herself into the familiar flippant posture and sarcastic stare. Shego took a step into the room, and Kim became increasingly aware that she and Ron were surrounded.

"Well, well, well. Long time no see, Princess! I'm kinda surprised you and Ron are here together – I thought you two broke up a while ago."

"Does _everyone_ know that?" said Ron.

"Pretty much. That's what happens when you go out with the golden girl."

Kim kept her attention on Shego even though a circle of henchmen were drawing closer. The lounge room's size was considerable, but Shego's goons were already beginning to make her feel hemmed in. "Refresh my memory," she said. "Wasn't Midas the guy giving you a hot rock treatment at that spa?"

"You got it," said Shego. "We've had a very pleasant working relationship."

Midas drew closer as the circle tightened. "She taught me everything I know."

"Don't get too cocky, pal," said Kim. "You've still got a lot to learn." She turned back to her old nemesis. "So you've gone from sidekick to supervillain, huh? With your own army of buff bodybuilders and a hunky massage therapist to lead them? Kind of predictable for you, Shego."

"Midas is my number two, and yes – I _am_ number one now."

"You wish," laughed Kim. "But enough chit chat."

Shego had to agree with Kim's sentiment. A glowing burst of plasma enveloped her hands as she leaped at her teen foe – maybe not a teen anymore, Shego reminded herself. Her clawed hand slashed viciously through the air, inches away from Kim's stomach.

Ron seemed to sense that Kim and Shego needed to duke it out between each other and began to corral the henchmen toward himself, away from the whirl of green fire and red hair. Midas took the lead, and Ron ducked under a swinging fist as he shot his foot out and tripped another henchman.

"Come here, punk!"

Ron waggled his fingers impudently at Midas. "I'm right here! You should think about doing more aerobic exercise to compliment all that upper body training."

Kim did a back flip and felt a rush of heated air pass underneath her as she leaped over Shego's slash. She blocked a slash from the other hand as she landed on the raised wooden floor with a thud. She tried to push her opponent back, but Shego's attacks were aggressive enough to push Kim steadily back instead. She felt a hard wooden edge bump against her back and leaped to the side just in time to avoid a downward slash. Shego's hand tore through the foosball table Kim had bumped into with a sickening crack, and she looked down at a half-melted foosball player as it clattered onto the wooden floor.

"Rrrgh! Do you _know_ how much I payed for that, Princess? That was mahogany!"

Shego made a dash towards Kim, face twisted in anger and arms outstretched. Just as she made a running leap, Kim let herself drop onto her back and caught Shego firmly in the stomach with her feet, sending her opponent sailing through the air on her own momentum. Shego smashed through the patio door in a shower of glass, skidding across the stone patio outside her lounge.

Stepping gingerly over glass shards, Kim walked out into the courtyard to join her enemy.

"That had to hurt," she taunted.

Shego got back up and shook glass fragments from her flowing black hair. She made a note of where Kim was standing and gave her foe a malicious grin as she pulled a small rectangular silver device out of her harlequin-patterned suit.

"Not as much as this will!"

Shego pressed a button on the device before moving a small joystick jutting out of it. Kim was about to run at her foe when she heard a strange whirring sound to her right. She turned to the side just in time to have the breath knocked out of her by Shego's hovercraft, which had been parked in the courtyard. The vehicle had not been going fast enough to seriously injure her, but taking any hit from something the size of Shego's hovercraft was painful; Kim was knocked sprawling onto the ground, where she lay gasping for air.

"Always check both sides before you cross the patio," laughed Shego. She used her remote control to redirect the hovercraft over Kim's prone form.

Kim looked up at the floating metal disc and tried to roll away, but she was still winded. This was it. She knew she was out of practice now, but what an embarrassing way to die. She flinched and closed her eyes momentarily, bracing herself to be crushed as the hovercraft dropped on her, but when she opened her eyes again a split second later, the craft had moved aside and parked itself in the grassy courtyard. Several of Shego's brawny henchmen stormed out from the shattered patio door and gathered around her.

Shego walked up to her fallen opponent. Before Kim could get up, she felt a pair of hands roll her over as one of the henchmen flipped her, aimed a strange gun at her wrists, and shot a glob of some kind of adhesive around them, gluing them together and tying her arms behind her back.

"Nice, huh?" said Shego as she grabbed the glob-firing gun from her henchman and showed it to Kim. "Something I stole from Drakken back in the day. He has neat little toys just laying around in his lairs that he invents and then forgets to use."

Shego pulled Kim up from the ground and pushed her towards the henchmen. As Kim was led into the lounge room, she saw that Ron had already been restrained inside. Shego tore the watch Kimmunicator from Kim's wrist just above the adhesive, held it up to her face, and melted it in a flare of roiling green.

"That's not going to buy you much time," said Ron. "Global Justice is going to drop in as soon as Wade figures out we're not responding anymore."

"That's nice," said Shego. "More guests for the party. Can the two of you tell me why exactly you're breaking into my place and snooping around that cupcake crate I've got in there?"

"Why don't you tell us what _you're_ doing with Drakken's cupcakes?" said Kim.

Shego threw herself down on one of the white leather chairs situated near the flat screen television. She gave the television a quick look to make sure it was all right, grateful that it hadn't been busted in the fight. Midas grabbed Ron and threw him down onto the couch beside Kim.

"I don't think you guys are in a position to ask questions," said Shego. "Now, here's _my_ question - what am I going to do with the two of you?"

XX

Shego's answer, Kim discovered, was to stuff the two of them into a small jail cell in her central control room. A row of thick metal bars kept them locked inside the cell where Shego had dumped them before disappearing. They had been in the cell for about an hour now. Outside of the bars, Shego's control room was spread out like many other supervillain control rooms that Kim had seen in the past. Computer banks, beeping and buzzing servers, a massive overhanging viewing screen, catwalks and viewing platforms that seemed to have no purpose other than to look good.

Looking closer, however, Kim could see that the control room was a little different than the ones she usually saw. A few henchmen sat here and there, and one or two looked like they were actually working on things, but most of them looked bored. Kim saw two henchmen on the far side of the control room playing with what looked like an antique arcade machine.

The control room did not seem as clean as the nerve center of a supervillain's lair usually looked, either. Pieces of trash were scattered across the floor here and there. Kim noticed an open cardboard box sitting on a desk not far from her vantage point behind bars. It was a cupcake box from Drakken's Cupcake Containment Chamber; some of the henchmen must have taken it into to the control room and eaten its contents. Kim was a little surprised that Shego would be so slovenly.

As she looked over the control room's contents, she even noticed that some of the machines did not seem to be turned on at all. Most of the computer monitors were blank, and many years of infiltrating lairs had given her a sort of intuitive knowledge of how many buttons should be blinking on any given generic big metal box.

"What are you looking at?" asked Ron.

"Just wondering what Shego's planning for us."

"My guess is some kind of shark pit."

"Ron, try the bars again."

Ron sighed, but dutifully crept forward from where he had been dozing against the wall in back of the cell. He wrapped his fingers around the cell's bars and squinted in concentration as a bright blue glow began to emanate from his body. The glow lasted for a moment, and then dissipated as Ron gave up.

"They're too strong. I don't know what they're made out of, but they won't budge."

Kim sat back against the wall and felt her bad mood rising. Ever since Midas had caught her off guard at the warehouse, she had felt like the mission was not going well. Walking right into that booby-trapped room with the Spinning Tops of Doom, for instance. And then being defeated by Shego. The very thought was infuriating enough to raise the hairs on the back of Kim's neck.

They would most likely be rescued by Global Justice before too long, but the whole thing was humiliating – her first mission in months and she had to be rescued, most likely by Will Du, who would certainly have a few choice condescending words about how she had turned him down when he offered to come along. And all of that for what amounted to a big metal box of cupcakes. It was wrongsick, that's what it was.

Kim couldn't say she had been happy with Ron's performance, either. As far as she could tell, he had been sleeping and sunbathing with Junior the whole time they were at the Seniors' island, while she was skipping a night of sleep to search for Drakken's Containment Chamber and whatever else Senior might have had up his sleeve. And here they were, years after Ron had defeated the Lorwardians and he had gotten a taste of his potential power, and he was still using it to act like a child.

She looked at Ron, who sat propped against the wall on the other side of the cell and twiddled his thumbs while whistling a faint tune. "You know," she said, "it's sort of ironic that you can use your Mystical Monkey Power to break the lid off that Containment Chamber and get us caught, but you can't use it to break those bars and get us out of here. Don't you think?"

"It doesn't work like that. I can flare it up a little if I concentrate, and it flares up sometimes if something stressful or emotional happens, but I don't have that much control over it."

"Have you ever made an effort to control it? It seems like you play around with it a lot."

Ron gaped at Kim.

"Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten what happened after you went to college?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I _wanted_ to get control of my powers! I _wanted_ to go to Yamanouchi ever since I saw what I was capable of doing when we were fighting the Lorwardians. Okay, yeah, partly because I thought it was really cool, but partly because I didn't want to hurt anyone or go out of control."

"So why didn't you? Why are you getting mad at me all of a sudden?"

Ron held his hands up to his head, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Because of you, KP! You didn't want me to go!"

Kim was floored by the accusation. After a moment of awkward silence, she stood up and paced the cell indignantly, wondering why Ron was getting so upset with her. She didn't want him to go? It was ridiculous. She couldn't remember telling him anything of the sort since graduation.

"When did I say that?" she asked.

"You never said it, but it was obvious from the way you acted around me. Every mission we went on after we graduated, every time I tried to use the monkey power – you always had some kind of comment about it, some little dig, and when I stepped up and helped you, you barely ever said thank you."

"Oh, please! Stop being so childish, Ron. If I ever made any comments about your Mystical Monkey Power it was because you didn't take it seriously. That's why we're here in this cell – we got caught because you play around with it like it's a toy."

"You mean except for when I do something like use it to save your life from one of those Spinning Tops of Doom?"

Kim's response faltered as Ron's words hit her. He was right; he had knocked her out of the way yesterday on the Seniors' island when the top was spinning towards her, and she had forgotten about it.

"The reason you have a problem with my Mystical Monkey Power," said Ron, "is because you're scared of the idea that I might end up being as good as you at fighting. That I might end up stealing your spotlight."

"Not everything is about you, Ron."

"Not everything is about you either!"

By this time Ron had gotten up as well, and although the cell was a little small for the two of them to work themselves up into a proper fury, he pointed a finger at her accusingly. "It's the same as it was with Bonnie. You have to be number one at everything, whether it's academics or popularity contests or missions. It's basically your whole stupid motto!"

"Why did I want you to go to college then?" yelled Kim. "Why did I keep trying to get _you_ to keep trying when you didn't get accepted anywhere, instead of just sitting at home playing games all day and working at Smarty Mart when you _told_ me you don't even really like it there anymore? Is that really what I'd do if I was so insecure about you doing something with your life?"

"I _did_ get accepted to colleges, Kim. Just not Upperton."

Kim fell silent. Ron had never told her he had gotten accepted anywhere.

"Where?" she asked.

"Other colleges. But I would have had to move to other states, Kim. I wouldn't be anywhere near Upperton, so I stayed at my job in Middleton because I didn't want to hurt our relationship. I wanted to stay close. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to feel guilty or think it was your fault I didn't go."

The way Ron explained it made it sound as if he had done the right thing, as if he had made a sacrifice for their relationship, but Kim was flabbergasted.

"Why?" she said. "Why would you do that? Ron, look, we both wanted to make our relationship work, but I never asked you to turn down school just to stay with me – that's a horrible choice to make. And I don't know where you get off saying you didn't want to make it feel like it was my fault. Ever since I went to Upperton you acted like I was leaving you behind, like I was supposed to put off my studies to accommodate you!"

"You have to make sacrifices, Kim – you have to put effort into a relationship to make it work."

"I did! But I couldn't just go back to Middleton and sit around playing _Zombie Mayhem_ with you when I was doing enough work for two degrees, Ron. You knew that when you started going out with me. You knew that like a week after we met in Pre-K. I have to work hard, I can't hold back and only give it ninety percent. It's just who I am!"

The two of them were circling around the cell like tigers in a fight for territory, and they did no even notice when Midas, who had been standing awkwardly nearby outside the cell, pressed a door locking mechanism and sent the bars swishing down into the ground, opening the cell for them.

"I tried to get you to apply yourself," said Kim, "but it's like you just got jealous of me. You think I was making comments about your monkey powers? Well, you were making comments about my being in college, Ron. You always had something to say when I was busy and had to pass on Bueno Nacho, like I was doing it just to spite you or something. Like I somehow thought I was better than you just because I was at a university. Like I didn't _want_ things to work out!"

"You didn't take that long to get with Monique, for someone who wanted it to work out."

Kim's eyes narrowed at the sound of her girlfriend's name.

"Monique, huh? Yeah, let's talk about her."

Both of them began to walk outside of their open cell without even realizing it, caught up in the heat of the argument. Midas stood by the cell door, a bemused expression on his face, as the two exes began to pace more widely over the control room.

"I did _not_ get together with Monique immediately like you're trying so hard to suggest, Ron. I'm with her now because I like her, and because she was there for me when I was miserable. And do you know why I was miserable? Because I wanted to be friends with you! We could both see that we were growing apart, that a relationship was too hard to maintain, but I still wanted to be friends, and I tried. I really tried. But you cut me off. You ignored me!"

"That's not-"

"Oh yes it is. It's totally true. Okay, so I couldn't call you every single day, I still had college, but when we broke up, Ron – that's when you got really childish. That's when you got jealous. You made it clear you didn't want to talk to me anymore. And now here we are, more than a year later, and you still haven't tried to move on. I'm with Monique because I moved on, Ron. You have to move on sometimes. If you don't, life moves right past you!"

Ron seemed to be running out of steam, and Kim felt herself becoming exhausted by the argument as well. She looked around and noticed that they were no longer in their cell, but had walked out into Shego's control room. A couple of henchmen were still playing their arcade game in the far corner, and Midas stood near the cell door where Kim and Ron had been locked up.

Someone else in the room gave a short laugh, and Kim turned to see Shego standing in front of the control room's entrance, leaning casually against the wall with a smirk plastered across her face.

"You two lovebirds finished?"

Shego nodded to Midas, who activated the cell bars again and nodded to his boss before leaving the control room. Kim was ready to attack, but Shego did not seem to have any intention of fighting, and Kim had to remind herself that Midas had apparently just let them out of the cell with Shego's permission. Something had to be up.

"Why did you let us out?" asked Ron. "You're not going to throw us in a shark pit, are you?"

"No. I just don't want to deal with the two of you. I'm not in the mood to hear a bunch of whiny drama or deal with Global Justice messing up my place. Now get out of here," said Shego.

"I'd be happy to," said Kim, "but you destroyed my watch Kimmunicator and I need to call my ride."

"Well I'm not gonna let you borrow the hovercraft if that's what you're getting at."

"Oh, hold on," said Ron as he fished out the old Kimmunicator Wade had given him after they met at the bakery the other day. "I had this in my pocket all along!"

Kim groaned loudly and snatched the Kimmunicator from Ron. If Shego wanted them out, Kim was glad to oblige. She and Ron walked out of the control room in stony silence, making their way up a stairway that led to the outside of the compound. Shego followed behind them to make sure Kim didn't try to pull anything else.

Before reaching the top of the stairs, however, Kim's brisk pace began to slow down. Something was not adding up. Shego wasn't as psychopathic as Monkey Fist, to be sure, but she wasn't the type to just let her enemies go after capturing them. Especially not her arch nemesis. Kim had not fought Shego in a long time – as a matter of fact, she hadn't seen her old foe since she and Drakken helped them defeat the Lorwardians – but this was not her typical M.O.

An entire team of henchmen who looked like metrosexual gym rats, sent to steal a shipment of cupcakes from Drakken. A dingy looking control room that looked like it was barely even being used. A private island in the Mediterranean that seemed to be half supervillain compound, half bachelor pad. A favorite massage therapist as a second in command. Gears churned and light bulbs flashed as a wonderful realization began to take form in Kim's mind.

"Oh. My. God."

By this time the trio had passed through the rest of the building, reaching the front entrance of the compound. Kim turned around and stared incredulously.

"What is it?" snapped Shego, trying to hide an increasingly worried look.

"I was so confused as to why in the world you would steal a bunch of cupcakes," said Kim. "I was sure Drakken was up to something, but I couldn't figure it out. Maybe you wanted the Containment Chamber itself, maybe you wanted to disrupt his operations, maybe you wanted something hidden in the cupcakes themselves."

"Get to the point already."

Kim smirked and took a step forward, and to both Ron's surprise and her own, Shego took a step back.

"You don't want any of that," said Kim. "You want attention."

Shego laughed. "What are you on about, Princess?"

"You want attention from Drakken! You stole all those cupcakes because this is your feeble way of getting back at him or something, of lashing out at him for what happened between the two of you. Drakken is with Hank now, and everybody saw what happened between the two of you at that United Nations conference on television. The tendrils snaking around you, that blush – you were totally into him, weren't you!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Shego, waving a hand dismissively.

"Drakken broke up with you, or maybe he said he wasn't even into you in the first place. And I bet he gave up the supervillain lifestyle a lot quicker than you did, once he realized he could do other things and still get attention and recognition. Whatever happened, you ended up coming here, building this lair, vowing to make him pay. That was why you were with him for all those years! Because you liked him – why else would you play second fiddle to someone like him?

"And now it's years later and you're still not over it. Instead of being a supervillain, you're a washed up has-been, sitting around on your private island and eating stolen cupcakes just to be vindictive."

Kim was half expecting Shego to light her hands into flame and attack, but while Shego looked enraged, she made no attempt to move. While Kim had no way to tell if she had been right on the mark, her foe's reaction was enough to let her know that she had been close. Too close for Shego's comfort.

"How do you know it wasn't Drakken's fault?" said Ron. "I mean, come on, that guy was pretty absorbed in his work. Maybe he didn't pay any attention to Shego, or maybe he cheated on her with Hank."

"What, like I supposedly 'cheated' on you with Monique? Is that what you're implying?"

"What? No, I mean, I – I just-"

"I can't believe you're defending her after all the things she's done. And I can't believe I'm even on this mission, either! Running after a bunch of stupid cupcakes for the guy I was fighting for four years when I could be studying, or spending time with Monique, or anything useful. What a waste of time," said Kim. She opened a channel to Will Du on the Kimmunicator.

"I'm ready go to now," she said.

"Roger that."

Shego stood awkwardly for a moment, looking like she was considering whether or not to attack Kim, when she finally stormed back down the stairs into the depths of her lair. Ron and Kim were left alone in the entry room that led out onto the island itself. Kim turned back and opened the front door to leave.

"The two of you are such children," she said. "You both need to grow up."

Ron folded his arms petulantly. "If that's what you think," he said, "you can fly home alone. I'll just get a ride from Wade later - I don't feel like sitting next to you for the rest of the afternoon. Oh, and hey, maybe you can go on missions with Will Du from now on. You could even date him if you get bored of Monique!"

"Whatever."

Kim left the front door into the bright afternoon sunlight, but took one look back and threw Ron the Kimmunicator before she closed it again. "There," she said, "so you can call a ride. Oh, and Ron? Drakken's cupcakes are better than yours."

Kim knew it was one of the stupider things she had ever said before the words came out of her mouth – and one of the more childish, to boot. But she had not chosen the sentence for its words. She had chosen it for its impact. And it worked. Ron glowered and turned away, walking down the stairs in a huff. Kim vaguely wondered if Shego would tear him apart when she saw that he hadn't left, or what Ron was even thinking by staying, but her thoughts were a clouded haze.

There was a grassy field outside, and a narrow wall of palm trees separated it from the beaches at the edge of the island. The beach where Kim and Ron had first parachuted onto the island was not far away. As Kim walked out into the field, she saw a faint, flashing shape in the distance as a haze of tears began to blur her eyes. At least Will Du was not taking long to arrive. She just wanted to get off the island as soon as possible. It was clear to her now that taking the mission had been a mistake.


	10. Party Planning

**Party Planning**

XX

A top of the line satellite dish system stolen from one of Drakken's old lairs, beaming in hundreds of channels, and there wasn't a single thing Shego wanted to watch. Channels flipped past in a blur as she sat in her white leather couch, feeling herself gradually sink into the material. Part of it was the luxurious softness of the leather, but part of it, Shego had to admit, was the fact that she had eaten a hell of a lot of cupcakes over the past couple of weeks. She couldn't help it – Drakken's D Cups, she was loathe to say, were delicious.

She had even tried to lift the recipe out of Drakken's computer systems, but there had been nothing useful in the database. At least not according to her henchmen, since Shego did not have the technical know-how to be breaking into Drakken's advanced systems. She had the distinct impression that her henchmen did not know what they were doing either. Perhaps she should have outsourced the hacking. Maybe that Frugal Lucre character would be a good bet.

Still, Kim's accusations sat in her stomach heavier than the four cupcakes she had just inhaled in a fit of anger before throwing herself onto the couch. She knew she was stealing the cupcakes to be vindictive, and she knew it was a pathetic low for her. After hearing about the new business Drakken was opening up through the usual villain circles, Shego had realized that his relationship with Hank Perkins had to be serious, to say the least. He had moved on.

Despite the fact that she had always fancied herself an independent spirit, someone who needed no one, a take no prisoners woman who chained herself to no man, the fact remained: she had not moved on. Kim accused her of stealing the cupcakes for attention. Was that it? Was Shego trying to get Drakken to talk to her again, but couldn't bring herself to just come right out and ask?

"Hey Shego," said Ron as he walked in to the lounge area. "Man, this place is kind of huge – I got lost in the corridors for a few minutes. I'll be out of here eventually, so don't get all crazy on me."

Shego glanced at Ron and nodded faintly as he passed through the lounge to the minibar. She noticed that the floor was still strewn with charred wood and melted plastic footballers who had been unfortunate enough to stand in the way of Shego's swipe when she cut the foosball table apart earlier. Midas would have to clean that up, she supposed.

"Do you have any soda?" asked Ron. "And you know, I always thought if I was rich enough to have a place as big as this, I'd put a private Bueno Nacho right in the middle of my house. You should give it a thought."

Ron returned to the couch with a cold soda in hand and plopped down on the opposite end from Shego, watching as she flipped channels. He cracked the soda open with a sigh as he thought about the total meltdown he had just gone through with Kim. Here he thought the mission had been going alright, but clearly Kim did not share his sentiments. Ron was trying to stay positive, but what was there to be positive about?

"Wait a minute."

Shego dropped the remote and stared at Ron, who sat in her leather sofa and let out a belch before noticing the pair of eyes that were boring into his skull.

"What the hell are _you_ still doing here?"

XX

The jet was well on its way back to the United States, passing over at the Atlantic on its return trip. Kim was on her way home, but that did nothing to cheer her up. She sat in the her window seat and stared at the passing view, her eyes still blurred with tears she was trying to keep from falling. A seat lay empty beside her.

She had been optimistic about the mission, about patching things up with Ron. She thought she wanted to patch things up with him, and there were times while they were in pursuit of Drakken's cupcake cargo that she thought things were going to work out. Things had been awkward with Ron, but a few snippets of conversation between them had felt friendly enough, carefree enough, to remind her of the way things were.

And yet, somehow the mission had ended up a train wreck. Ron probably hated her; for all she knew, things were worse with him than they had been when they weren't even talking to each other. She couldn't believe he could still affect her so much, even after the many months they had spent apart. Other people couldn't hurt her the way Ron could. She wondered if Monique could, but the opportunity had never come up, and they had never really had a serious fight since they got together.

What hurt even more was that she knew Ron had been right about some things. Not everything, but enough that Kim's confidence in her own lack of blame for the breakup was shattered. She had chosen to break up with him, and she did not regret what she had done, but she had also told herself ever since that time that it had been Ron's fault. He just couldn't grow up. He was just too childish, too unwilling to change and make something of his life.

Maybe those things were still true, but Ron had thrown accusations at her that had never occurred to her. She _had_ been condescending at times, she did make comments about Ron not getting into college, which had been meant to drive him to take the initiative, but Kim now knew that Ron had not taken it that way. She could be bossy sometimes, after all. More than that, however, something else was dawning on her.

She _was_ jealous of his Mystical Monkey Power. Kim was amazed that something lurking just beneath her self-awareness had now risen so clearly to the surface, glistening in its horrible reality. Ron had mentioned going to Yamanouchi in the past, before the breakup, and while Kim hadn't turned him down, she hadn't been remotely encouraging either.

Kim had told herself it was jealousy at the time, but not over his powers. Over Yori, over being away for long periods of time. But she knew Ron would not betray her, nor would Yori take Ron from her. And the distance, while a reasonable thing to worry about, was already something they had to face with Kim hard at work at a college in another city. Now that Ron had spelled it out, Kim realized it was true. She had to be on top. The idea of Ron's powers – powers he stumbled upon almost by accident – elevating him so much that he might outshine her in her own greatest passion? It was scary.

Will Du stepped into the passenger compartment as the plane flew on autopilot. "Are you sure we shouldn't call in Global Justice?" he asked. "What happened back there?"

"It doesn't matter," said Kim. "Waste of time. This whole mission was a waste of time. Shego stole a big metal box of cupcakes from Drakken, big deal. They're pretty much all eaten now anyway. If Drakken really wants to do something about it, he can sue her for damages. Besides, we still don't know this whole cupcake business of Drakken's is really on the up and up. I still don't trust him. You guys want to invade Shego's lair for trivial reasons on behalf of another supervillain who might be working against you?"

"Perhaps not."

Will Du sat down beside Kim in the empty passenger seat, and while Kim was not interested in having any company, she was too tired to say anything about it.

"May I ask why Ron did not come along when we lifted off, and you insisted on going anyway?"

"I told you, he's getting a ride later."

Will had heard Kim say it the first time, but it wasn't really the question he was asking. Still, he found his answer in the implication behind Kim's words. He had noticed that the two former teen heroes were having a rocky mission together, and everyone in the villain-fighting community was well aware that they were no longer a couple. Clearly, something had happened on the island.

"I have to say," said Will Du as Kim stared blankly out of the window, "I never really understood what you saw in him. He was lacking in the kind of skills needed to be successful in our business, Kim. And I don't think he ever took what we do very seriously."

Will cleared his throat tentatively as he inched a little closer to Kim.

"Perhaps it's a good thing that things aren't working out between the two of you. I believe you still need a little work, but you'd be a very satisfactory member of Global Justice, and maybe you could find a mission partner who complemented your skill set more-"

"Will, shut up and fly the plane."

Will's pitch was cut off in mid-stroke, and their conversation bounced to a sad halt. Maybe he had spoken too soon. That Stoppable fellow had really warped her priorities, after all. Will nodded curtly and got up from the passenger seat, returning to the cockpit with as much grace and decorum as he had left to muster.

XX

When Shego had woken up late Sunday morning, she had not expected to spend her afternoon with the sidekick of her longtime arch nemesis. And yet, here she was. Ron Stoppable had commandeered the remote and was now flipping channels listlessly – by Shego's count, they had gone through the entire list of channels about three times now.

Shego had decided that she would not tear Ron to shreds for inviting himself into her island hideout, taking her soda without asking, and sitting in the same room where she had been fighting his ex-girlfriend barely more than an hour earlier. She supposed she was feeling a little magnanimous. Or maybe her current seething hatred towards Kim was, amazingly enough, making her sympathize with the buffoon.

"Um, do you want us to kick him out?"

Midas had tentatively stepped through the shattered remains of the patio sliding door, and was staring at the new guest sitting on the couch beside his boss.

"No, he's fine," said Shego. "He'll be leaving soon. Just don't bother me right now, okay? I'm trying to chill."

Midas nodded obediently and left the two of them to their television.

"So what's the deal with that guy?" asked Ron. "Are you two going out or something?"

"Uh, it's complicated. We were for a little while, when I first set up here, but it was mostly just a rebound from Drakken. It didn't work out, so now I just make him obey my orders. Not bad for an ex-boyfriend, actually. I think he resents it, but hey, he can always go back to being a massage therapist if he doesn't like his job here."

"So were you and Drakken really going out? I gotta say, me and Kim were both kinda surprised about that. He didn't seem like your type."

Shego's eye twitched a little. She had to be in a strange mood, to be having a conversation with Kim's sidekick about her personal life, and she realized she had opened up a little more than she meant to.

"None of your business," she snapped. "I was surprised when you and Kim started going out, anyways. You really don't seem like _her_ type."

Shego got up and went over to the minibar for a drink. She opened the refrigerator behind the counter and let out a grunt of displeasure when she saw that Ron had taken the last of her sodas. She could fix herself a margarita, but she was lazy, and she had already told Midas to leave her alone, so he couldn't fix her one. There were other varieties of alcohol, but it was too early in the day for that. Even for her. And she didn't want to come off as a sad sack around Kimmie's dorky ex. With a fatalistic sigh, she grabbed a glass from the cupboard behind the bar and poured herself a glass of water.

"Why, who _did_ you think Kim's type was?" asked Ron as she returned and plopped down on the couch.

"I dunno. Somebody more suave. That frosted blond guy that was at your high school seemed like a decent match."

"Josh Mankey? No, they were horrible for each other. That guy was no good! She's actually going out with this girl who was friends with both of us in high school, Monique Jenkins."

Shego raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Monique, like a girl?"

"Yeah. Honestly, when I found out she was going out with Monique, I was kind of wondering why she didn't go for you, if she was into the girls all of a sudden."

Shego spat out a mouthful of water, which sailed an impressive distance and hit the television screen. She was not aware that Kim had developed an interest in the ladies, but even more surprising was Ron's suggestion that Kim would be into her.

"_Me?_ What are you on?"

"Well, I don't know," said Ron, a little defensively. "Sworn enemies locked in heated battle, both totally hot chicks. I always thought you had kind of a fixation on Kim, and then I find out Kim has a thing for girls, so I kind of imagined things from there. That's all!"

"Yeah, the sworn enemies thing is a bit hard to ignore," said Shego. "I'm fixated on Kim because she's freaking insufferable, which maybe you've been noticing a little since the two of you stopped going out. Kimmie is hot though, I'll give you that. And good job on flattering me there with the hot chick comment, seeing as you're crashing my pad and stealing my sodas, punk."

"Er, yeah," Ron laughed nervously. "Thanks for the hospitality, by the way."

"Whatever."

"I can leave if you want me to. I guess this is kind of weird anyway. I don't want to deal with going home yet, but Kim wouldn't like me hanging out with her arch enemy like this."

"Still thinking about what Kim would want, huh? She was right – you really _haven't_ gotten over her."

Ron had gotten up from the couch, intending to find a telephone and call Wade to get a ride hooked up, but he sat back down with a flustered expression. Maybe he hadn't gotten over Kim.

"Big deal," he said. "You haven't gotten over Drakken either."

"Sure I have"

"No you haven't!" Ron blurted out. "You turned him gay and now you're stealing his cupcakes!"

"Then you turned _Kim_ gay, hypocrite!"

"Oh, right. Hmm."

"And will you just stop on one channel already? You're driving me nuts with the flipping!"

Ron grumbled and flipped channels faster, with a touch of vindictiveness. As the two of them grew quiet, Ron couldn't help but think about all the things Kim had flung at him in their argument before she left. There was no way she could be right about all of it – what was wrong with playing _Zombie Mayhem_ and being happy with where you were in life? Not everybody had to be working all the time, always trying to reach some goal. Ron wanted to do what he wanted to do, instead of buying into what other people thought he should be doing with his life. Never be normal, after all.

"Do you think I'm childish?" he asked Shego.

"Yeah."

Ron pursed his lips in resentment. He had forgotten that Shego was not the type to go for tact. He put the remote down, about to settle into a morose funk and join Shego in staring absently at the television screen as they watched nothing in particular, when he noticed the DVD collection stacked on wire racks nestled into the oak entertainment unit on which the television was sitting. Ron got up from the couch and walked over to the racks, getting down to his knees and flipping through some of the titles. He was impressed. There were a few romantic titles here and there – he shuddered briefly as he passed over _The Memo Pad_ – but most of the DVD's were action, science fiction, and martial arts. He stumbled upon one title in particular that caught his eye.

"Whoa, you have _Bricks of Fury_?"

"All seven."

"What? I didn't know they released a seventh."

"I think they just use the same sets for each movie and dress them up a little different" said Shego. "I know they made at least a couple of the movies one right after another. It's like an assembly line. But that's part of the mystique."

Ron looked back at Shego, his expression filling with barely repressed excitement, and Shego couldn't help but laugh at how quickly Ron's blue mood was dispelled by something shiny and fun to play with, at least temporarily. DVD in hand, Ron edged towards the player below the television as if asking his host an unspoken question.

"Whatever," said Shego. "I'm going out tonight, but it's not like I'm doing anything right now."

Ron let out a faint whoop and scrambled to put the DVD into the player. He rushed back to the couch and leaped on it hard enough to send a ripple all the way to Shego's end, not wanting to even miss the opening credits, since installments of the _Bricks of Fury_ series often began with a brick hurtling towards the screen.

"Where are you going tonight?" asked Ron.

"Cyprus. You and Kim managed to bug me with your little unannounced visit, and I feel like partying and getting it out of my system."

Ron's distracted nod was replaced by an involuntary twitch as the movie's namesake flew at the screen before being overlayed by an obnoxious title sequence and loud music. The movie would be a good distraction from what had happened with Kim, which Ron was still trying to avoid thinking about too closely.

Not only that, but he felt a strange thrill as the movie began. Watching a movie with Kim's arch nemesis on a private island wasn't childish; it was rebellious. It was new. It was Ron, breaking out of his routine, pushing his boundaries, just like Kim had been haranguing him about.

It was bad to the bone.

XX

Midas sat in a comfortable green leather throne on a raised dais in the center of the control room, overlooking the work stations around it. The throne had been designed for Shego, but she rarely spent much time in the control room anymore. She didn't even care when she saw Midas sitting in her once-sacred seat.

The empty cell in which Kim and Ron had been locked was set, along with a few other prison cells, into a wall across the room. The arcade machines where a couple henchmen had been playing were pushed alongside another wall. At that moment, however, all of the henchmen under Shego's employ were gathered around Midas as he sat in the throne, one leg crossed over the other. The mood in the control room was as tense as a taut wire, ready to snap at any moment.

"Is he still up there?" asked one of the henchmen.

"Last I saw," said Midas. "They seem to be chatting it up."

"This is ridiculous," another henchman said. "I never thought I'd actually _want_ Kim Possible to come and attack us, but after months of just sitting around and doing nothing, I was kind of excited about today. And now Possible just leaves, and her sidekick is here hanging out with the boss?"

"You're preaching to the choir," said Midas. "I wouldn't mind it that much if I was being paid well, but - well, you all know how she's been with the paychecks lately."

The henchmen nodded as a few grunts of dissatisfaction escaped from the seated crowd. Had the henchmen not looked like bodybuilders, the scene in the control room would have looked like a disgruntled boy scouts meeting, with the scouts seated in a semicircle and gathered around their scoutmaster.

"I think she's lost her touch," said Midas. "Okay, so we're talking about Shego here, but I think she was best suited to be a sidekick. Everybody knew about her when she was working for Drakken, right? _Villain's Digest_ must have done an article about her, what, like every three issues? But what has she done lately?"

The grunts rose in volume.

"She tried to be a supervillain, and maybe it was going well for a while, but she's gotten soft. Sending us on that ridiculous operation to steal cupcakes from her old boyfriend? I mean, come on."

"And now she's up there fracturizing with the enemy!"

"Fraternizing, Bob."

"What?"

Midas rolled his eyes and ignored the question. He had been a little unsure about his plan at first, but he was gaining confidence by the second. He owed a lot to Shego – she had hired him to be her second in command, trained him to be an unbeatable expert in espionage and martial arts, and given him the thirst for power that, as a massage therapist, he had only tasted on the rare occasion that he had a talkative politician as a client. When Shego had come to his spa for a hot rock massage that first time, Midas had been lucky. But things were different now. The time was ripe. The time was now. It was time for him to step up.

"Soon," he said to the henchmen, who were like putty in his hands. "Soon we'll take action. All we have to do is wait until the right moment."

"When's that?" asked Bob.

Midas shrugged. He was trying to sound cool; it wasn't like he had actually calculated a specific moment to take action. "I don't know," he said, "let me go up and check."

Midas left the henchmen behind and exited the control room, stalking through the compound until he found the lounge area. Shego and Ron were missing. Judging by a collection of empty snack packages, along with a soda and another empty glass on the table, they had been hanging out. And Midas noticed the DVD player was on. He felt a twinge of jealousy; why would Shego give a weakling like Ron the time of day while she treated him like a worthless underling? The woman had definitely lost track of her priorities.

More empty rooms passed by as Midas checked the rest of the compound. Finally, he found an open door that led out onto the covered dock connected to the far side of the building. The room was sort of a combination of a dock and a hangar area, with a concrete walkway surrounding a small harbor that led out to the open ocean. Shego had once intended to use it for marine operations in her eventual island empire of evil, but lately she used it to tool around on her jet skis when she was bored of staying inside. Right now, Midas found Shego and Ron looking over the jet skis in question.

"I stole that one from a contest in Turkey," laughed Shego as she pointed to one of her favorites, a green and black striped jet ski moored close by. "The color scheme was a total coincidence. They gave the jet skis on loan to the contestants, and when they started the race I just drove off until I could find a place to hide it!"

Ron had to laugh, although he felt a little guilty about finding the story so amusing.

"Excuse me," interrupted Midas, "but do we have any plans to do anything today? What if Global Justice attacks us, for instance?"

"I thought we already checked on that," said Shego impatiently. "We saw no activity from their base in Turkey, and if they wanted to give me trouble they would have done it when they came to pick up Possible. You really think Global Justice has the time to be worried about a bunch of cupcakes?"

"Fine," said Midas. "What am I supposed to be doing tonight, then?"

"I don't know. I'm going to go party, you do what you want."

"Should I come with you?"

Shego groaned and rubbed her temples. Sometimes Midas could be a real pain. And she definitely did not want her ex-boyfriend hanging around while she was trying to have a good time and wipe Kim's annoying visit from her memory with a few strong drinks.

"You stay here," she said. "Hold down the fort, whatever. Clean up that mess in the lounge room with the foosball table and all the glass."

"Yes, ma'am," said Midas, knowing the address got under Shego's skin.

"And don't call me ma'am, for God's sake!"

Midas smirked and left the dock area as Shego continued to give Ron her tour of the private island. He had gotten the information he wanted, and it was exactly what he had been hoping to hear. They would both be gone tonight, he thought, and Shego would most likely be returning in a drunken haze. Perfect.

XX

It wasn't that Shego was vain, but – well, okay, she was vain, and she had a certain pride in her hangout that she didn't get to express to people very often. Her henchmen were jaded, having worked with many supervillains in the past, whereas Ron seemed to be impressed by just about anything under the sun. He even had a number of surprisingly interesting suggestions when it came to evil lair amenities, although Shego knew she would not be using them anytime soon.

"Hey," said Ron as they finished looking at the watercraft, "you mind if I tag along while you go party?"

Shego looked at Ron suspiciously. "I don't think it's your scene," she said. "I'm just going to be hitting some bars and dance clubs, probably."

"Yeah, but it's either that or I go home and deal with my parents asking me what happened on the mission. I'd just rather not think about that stuff right now. And this is actually the first time I've been out of Middleton for a while – I guess I was kind of used to all that travel when me and Kim were still doing missions together. It's not until this weekend that I realized how much I missed it."

"Well," said Shego, "It would be amusing to see you try to keep up with me. Just don't say I didn't warn you, Stoppable. And we are _not_ visiting any Bueno Nachos."

Ron wondered how she even knew he was such a big fan of Bueno Nacho. There was the time Shego had fought him in the restaurant while Kim had the tick-shaped explosive on her nose. And maybe he had mentioned it a few times in passing during missions. Still, Ron told himself, he had an expansive palette of tastes in food; it wasn't like Bueno Nacho was the _only_ place he could eat.

"Alright then," he said, "Partying tonight. It's a date!"

Shego rolled her eyes. She knew Ron was just throwing out words with no thought to their meaning, but she already began to wonder if letting him stick around at all was a mistake. At least he was a change of pace, she supposed. It might be fun to terrifying him, if he was stupid enough to think he could keep up with her. And maybe he'd give her some juicy gossip about Kim. Then again, Shego wondered if anything could top what Ron had already told her about Kim's current romantic inclinations.

XX

As Monique left the Upperton campus, the college students who were enjoying the remainder of their weekend before classes started again gave way to the more varied residents of Upperton itself. She had just left a party at one of the fraternity houses, but without Kim around it had been a little uninteresting. That, and Monique had dealt with an unusually long string of frat boys hitting on her. She was used to getting attention because her looks, but she hadn't really been in the mood to stick around the party for much longer.

A cool breeze blew as evening hours began to wear on. Monique gathered her faux-fur lined jacket closer around herself as she passed through downtown Upperton, which tended to be bustling with pedestrians and laced with traffic at all hours of the night. She turned onto a familiar street, one where she and Kim often went shopping, and passed by quaint shops and boutiques along the sidewalk.

A shop dedicated entirely to candles and potpourri; a shop filled with knick knacks and home furnishings; a gaming shop with a poster advertising the latest installment of the _Zombie Mayhem_ franchise plastered in its window, making Monique wonder if Ron had gotten the game; a custom clothing and couture shop where Monique had shopped numerous times already. She enjoyed designing clothing for Steve and Paul to show off in the wrestling ring, but often Monique wondered if she would end up owning her own fashion boutique someday. Maybe she'd take over that very store if she and Kim stayed in Upperton after graduation.

Monique stopped next to an unfamiliar cafe and, after seeing the sign, realized what she had stumbled upon almost immediately. Kim had given Monique a brief description of her mission the other day, and Monique had seen the cupcakes around campus, but she had not visited Drakken's shop yet. Judging by how ubiquitous those little cupcakes were on campus, even in classes, it was probably making a tidy profit. Even Monique had been craving the cupcakes ever since Ned brought them to the Upperton Arena while they were working. Seeing as she was still in a bit of a funk, maybe an unhealthy snack was just what Monique needed.

The patio outside of the store was empty as it was getting a little cold outside, but most of the tables and booths inside the bakery were filled. On the left, a line of booths straddled windows that looked out into a side street. On the right, a glass counter curved out into the store, displaying a variety of cupcake styles. Behind it stood several bored-looking workers.

"Welcome to Doctor D Cups," droned one employee in her general direction. "Where one cup is never enough."

Monique walked up to the counter and looked briefly at the bakery items under their glass display window.

"We have cups of all sizes," droned the employee - "pick whatever is the best fit for your tastes!"

Monique looked past the worker at the employee door in the back. "Are the owners here, by any chance?" she asked.

"Mister Drakken is gone, but Mister Perkins is in the back."

"Can you tell him that Kim Possible's girlfriend is here?"

"I'll get him for you."

The young man disappeared into the employee area and came back after a moment with an older man: clean-shaven, straight-laced, and dressed in a business suit topped by a chef's apron.

"Hello there," said Hank. "Welcome to our little cafe and bakery!"

"Thanks. I haven't gotten the chance to chat with Kim too much since she went on that mission with Drakken – I just thought I'd stop in and ask you if you knew how it was going, and maybe grab a cupcake while I'm here."

"Certainly!"

Hank removed his apron and turned to one of his employees. "I'm taking a short break to chat with this young lady," he said. "Bring us a couple of cupcakes and mugs of coffee, and let me know if anyone needs me."

"Yes sir."

Hank led Monique to the only remaining empty booth in the shop and sat down with her.

"You don't have to sit down or anything," said Monique. "I just thought I'd get a quick update."

"It's no problem at all. Good business is always about building a relationship with your customers, after all."

"Uh, yeah, I guess so."

The cupcakes and coffee arrived at their table after a few moments. Monique picked up her cupcake and took a deep sniff; she had no idea how they got it to smell so good, but it was hard to deny that Drakken had something good going on. She wondered if anyone even tried the other bakery items.

"To be honest with you, we haven't heard much from your girlfriend either," said Hank. "We've been in touch with that boy who gives her all her tech support backup, Wade. He was here earlier, actually. Kim and her sidekick were going to explore another lead they got from the Seniors, some new island lair."

"Really? You think they're okay?"

"I'm sure they are. That Wade boy will update Drakken if we learn anything new. Drakken's been handling most everything related to the cupcake stealing problem, since he has all the past experience with Wade and your girlfriend. Tonight he had to go do some work on our franchise expansion plans with Assad Sacke over at the warehouse. We're very confident in the scalability of this enterprise, based on how we've done here in Upperton."

Monique nodded absently. She had been thinking about Kim and Ron together all day – whether they were arguing, whether they had repaired their damaged friendship, whether they had skipped the mission entirely and were passionately making out. Most of all, however, as much as Monique knew how Kim could handle herself, she hoped her girlfriend was not in any danger.

XX

"And what about Ron?"

"He told me he's going to stick around a little while and make sure Shego isn't up to anything else. He wants to see if he can figure out if there was any other reason she was stealing those cupcakes. He called me right after Kim left and said that Shego seemed to be fine with him staying for a while. I think he was in the bathroom when he called, actually," said Wade as he wrinkled his face in displeasure at the memory.

"Strange," said Dr. Director. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well, alright. Keep me updated on any changes. It doesn't sound like Shego is quite the threat she used to be, but you never know. We'll be on standby if we need to send any backup."

"Gotcha."

Wade sighed as he closed down the feed. Dr. Director had been disappointed at the way the mission had ended with Kim leaving in a huff. Wade was disappointed as well, but then he had tried at least. There wasn't much he could do to patch things up between Kim and Ron now, and it didn't seem to him like they were very invested in patching things up themselves.

He was surprised to see Kim quitting the mission early and Ron staying to keep an eye on things for a little longer, but Wade wondered if that was really what was going on. He got the feeling that Shego was not up to very much, and it was a bit strange that she would even tolerate Ron staying on the island at all. And judging by the trace Wade had on Ron's chip, which his friend still hadn't discovered after all these years, he and Shego were currently hanging out at a tourist trap in Cyprus. Wade had been getting some strange ideas over the last couple of hours about what was going on down there. Ideas about a pair of former sidekicks commiserating...

_No, that's ridiculous,_ Wade told himself. He shook his head to clear his mind a little.

Whatever Ron was doing down there, hopefully he might have something else for them to go on when he got back. Wade wondered if they were looking for explanations where none existed; maybe Drakken really was a legitimate businessman, and Shego was stealing cupcakes out of bitterness. Or just because she liked them. They were undeniably good.

Wade had entertained the thought that maybe there was something about the cupcakes themselves, but he had tested the one he took from his last visit to the bakery. It was hard to resist eating it, but he had pulled through. All his tests came back negative. The cupcake, the frosting, even the little cherry on top of the one he had taken – no hidden substances, no unusual readings. It was just a plain old cupcake.

He picked up his frosted test subject, from which he had already taken a few bites, and finished it off, saving the cherry for last. It wasn't quite as fresh as the ones he had eaten before sending Kim and Ron on their mission. Not as fragrant, either. But then, it _had_ been sitting out all day as he tested it. He would have to come back to the bakery later and eat some better ones. Just to make sure Drakken was staying out of trouble, he reassured himself.

XX

Junior closed his illustrated book about the age of the dinosaurs and placed it on the end table beside the bed. The dinosaurs were fascinating, but Junior had more pressing things on his mind, like why Bonnie had not come to bed yet, and why he kept hearing faint traces of conversation coming from a few rooms away.

He got out of bed and went into the bathroom to wash the melon extract facial masque from his face, deciding that he had given it enough time to sink in and rejuvenate his skin. The sound of speaking grew louder as he exited the room in search of his fiancée and father, and did not take Junior long to find that it was coming from the library. He opened the door to find his father and Bonnie up in the second-floor alcove.

"Whatever are the two of you doing up there?" he asked.

Bonnie glanced down briefly, but then looked back to his father without so much as a hello. The two of them were poring over something, although Junior could not tell what it was from his vantage point. He made his way up the small spiral staircase that led to the ledge, where Bonnie was sitting on front of a computer station set into the wall beside the bookcases. His father was poring over some papers on a nearby oak table, lit by an ornate desk lamp.

"I have been waiting in bed for you, sweetie."

"That's nice," said Bonnie dismissively. "Junior, we're a little busy planning something here."

"Planning? What are you planning?"

Señor Senior Senior looked up from his papers and gave his son a severe look over a pair of reading glasses. "We are speaking about how best to approach the island lair that Kim Possible and her young friend visited. It is time to pay Shego and her henchmen a visit and discover why they are so interested in Drakken's cupcakes."

"Shego? Are you saying that is Shego's island?"

"Yes, my son."

"Excuse me, but why did I not know this?"

"Because you spend your time tanning beside the swimming pool, while Miss Bonnie and I have been monitoring her island closely for a long time. She seems to have kept a low profile until the last few weeks, ending with this fascinating 'cupcake container' of which Kim Possible has gone to so much trouble to find."

"But father, I am sure that Kim Possible has discovered that already."

"Kim Possible is hiding something, my son. Or Drakken is hiding something. Perhaps both of them. No one would go to so much trouble for a simple baked good. She spent a lot of time snooping around our lair when she was here – it was fortunate that we had no doomsday weapons or suspicious devices lying around. Still, she was quite interested in these baked goods. Perhaps this Containment Chamber they were speaking of contains something more valuable than cupcakes. It was valuable enough to be stolen, and so it is valuable enough for us to investigate."

"But father, has Kim Possible not taken it away already?"

"She has not. We have kept an eye on a spy satellite monitoring the island since this morning, and she left without any cargo. Not only that, but she has left her sidekick behind to stay on the island somewhere. Very interesting indeed."

"I do not see what is so interesting," complained Junior. "I was hoping we could go out on the yacht tomorrow and watch the dolphins play. Why must we always go back to the supervillainy?"

"You may not be interested in my hobbies, my son," said Senior as he got up and looked over Bonnie's shoulder at the computer monitor, "but Bonnie understands their allure. Please allow us to plan to peace. And get some sleep – we will be ready tomorrow."

Junior grumbled as he descended the staircase again and returned to his room. He had enjoyed peace and quiet on his little island for quite a while, but the reappearance of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable was looking like it had jogged his father's thirst for villainy. His father had been patiently grooming Bonnie in the ways of villainy, and while Junior had been a little jealous of the shift in attention, he also knew he did not want to follow in his father's footsteps.

Still, it looked like Bonnie was now looking to put herself to the test. And as usual, Junior would be dragged along for the ride. So much for a pleasant day of dolphin watching.

XX

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_**Notes** - I know I said this before, but now I think I actually _will_ be uploading chapters a little faster, hehe. I mentioned it earlier but forgot about the whole being-busy-with-other-stuff-on-the-holidays thing. Then again, I update faster than most people in the first place, so it's all good. The next chapter will be even larger than this one - I considered cutting it into two chapters while I was writing it, but decided it really worked best as one._


	11. Then and Now

_**Notes** - Just a warning, but this chapter might push the T rating a little. I don't think it deserves an M based on the average stories I see with that rating, but either way, you've been warned!_

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**Then and Now**

XX

"And stay out!"

Ron had already exited the bar after sensing that a fight was about to ensue, and he watched from the middle of the dirt road as the bouncer attempted to throw Shego out the back door. Unfortunately for the man, even when she was more than a little tipsy, Shego was more than a match for the average bouncer. Ron cringed as the bouncer tried to push Shego before she grabbed him and flipped him over her head, sprawling his body out unceremoniously into the street.

"Whash 'at?" exclaimed Shego. "_You_ thtay out! Hahaha."

The bouncer got up and dusted himself off, glaring at Shego. For a moment it looked like he was about to make a running dash at her, but a glance at softly glowing green hands convinced him that it was probably better just to go back inside. The woman was out of the bar now, and she had hopefully gotten the point. Shego watched with an unsteady grin as the bouncer entered the bar and slammed the door shut behind him.

"C'mon," she said. "Gotta dance now."

Ron was about to protest that maybe she was not in the best state to dance, but felt himself dragged along by the arm as the two of them left the side alley into the main road. Shego led him along rows of shops, restaurants, bistros, and tourist traps overlooking the coast. They were on Cyprus, but Ron had no idea where exactly they were beyond that; Shego had taken the two of them in the hovercraft and insisted this was a great place to party. She _did_ seem to know the town well, and a number of its inhabitants kept giving her nervous looks as if they were well aware of her. Whether or not they were actually headed in the direction of a club, however, Ron could only guess.

"'S in here," slurred Shego as they arrived at a nondescript looking gray concrete building. Ron could hear the faint pulse of a dance beat reverberating through the walls. A small ramp filled with a waiting line of people along the side of the building led down below the level of the road itself. Shego pulled Ron down the ramp, elbowing people aside until she reached a bouncer, who stood behind a velvet rope next to double doors. The music pulsed more loudly and insistently, and Ron could see dancers through circular glass windows set into the doors.

"Lemme in," said Shego as she gave the bouncer an insistent poke. "Bad day, 'n I wanna have a fun wish – with, uh," - she paused briefly, looking like she was about to throw up, but gained control of herself at the last minute - "with 'is dork here!"

The bouncer looked at her silently. Ron noticed a glimmer of recognition in his eye, and his no-nonsense demeanor seemed to falter for a moment as he reluctantly unhooked the velvet rope and motioned for the two of them to pass. Before he knew what was happening, Ron found himself jostled and jabbed by a packed room of dancers. Harsh electronic music thudded the air like a hammer, and the room was drenched in neon blue lighting. Bright blue lasers passed overhead, coming from some kind of revolving device at the end of the room near a D.J, but Ron could barely see over the tops of the dancers' heads.

"How long are we gonna be out?" yelled Ron over the music.

"Can't hear you," said Shego as she pulled Ron closer and began to undulate her sinuous body to the beat. "Sh'up and show me you moves, s-sidekick!"

Ron felt himself bounce off of nearby club-goers as Shego's wild dancing knocked him backwards, but the dance floor was crowded enough to send him right back at her, as if the room's occupants were acting as one in rejecting his total lack of groove. Shego's jet black hair whipped across Ron's face as he felt himself brushed by skin-tight green and black fabric. He began to wonder if he was in over his head.

XX

Another cupcake disappeared into Monique's mouth as she finished outlining the worries that had plagued her that weekend. Her stomach gave a silent rumble of protest, and she decided she had probably eaten enough for one night. The cupcakes had done their job as comfort food.

"Want any more?" asked Hank. "They're on the house."

"I'm good, but thanks. And that's very generous of you."

"It's the least I can do while your girlfriend is helping to apprehend those thieves."

While Monique had not come into the bakery expecting to complain about her relationship worries to someone she had just met, Hank had a strangely comfortable manner about him. He was a good listener, and even if his friendliness was of the customer service variety, it worked well enough for Monique.

"So what about you?" asked Monique. "You weren't worried about Drakken goin' back to Shego?"

"No, I suppose not," said Hank. "Drakken told me the whole thing with the flower tendrils at the United Nations conference was just a mistake, and they had a bit of a mind of their own sometimes. Apparently Shego interpreted it as interest. Drakken was too timid to make that clear to her, they went on a series of awkward dates and villainous capers filled with increasingly one-sided romantic tension, until finally Drakken was forced to let Shego know that he didn't share her feelings and he had been accidentally leading her along the whole time."

"Yikes. What happened then?"

"He said the injuries were relatively minor, considering. But the point is, I don't really think Drakken ever had any strong feelings for Shego. I do feel bad for the girl, so I can understand your guilt with Ron, even though I can tell you it's misplaced. It wasn't as if you stole the boy from Kim, after all."

Monique looked out the window beside their booth and watched as the occasional pair of car headlights flashed down the side street. Sometimes a cold-looking person walked briskly past the window and gave Monique a glance as she stared out that them. She always thought there was something a little awkward about meeting someone's gaze when you were looking out of a window as they passed by.

The pedestrians were passing by less frequently as the night drew to a close, taking the weekend with it. Monique wondered where Kim was, and if she would end up missing any classes tomorrow. She had no idea how Kim ever went on missions in high school without piling up enough absences to be suspended. But then, anything was possible for that girl.

"So how did you find out you had a thing for Drakken?" she asked.

"It was your typical work relationship blossoming into something more. Drakken approached me after saving the world-"

"Helping to save the world," Monique corrected.

"Yes, that's correct. Helping to save the world. He said he was going through a moral quandary and wanted to try running a legitimate business venture, and wanted my expertise. The two of us went to cupcakes immediately due to our past experience, of course, and decided to try a cafe and bakery. We spent most of our time together after that. Planning, talking. Sharing."

Hank began to reminisce, a glimmer showing in his eyes, when Monique snapped her fingers.

"Earth to Hank!"

"Oh yes. We ended up finding that we had a lot in common, but Drakken can be fairly absorbed in his work. So much so that he doesn't notice other people's feelings. He was with Shego for years without realizing she had a thing for him, after all. So I started inviting him to have a cup of coffee with me after our work. Maybe see a movie, little things like that. And soon I made my move."

"Sneaky. Did he freak?"

"Yes, he did," said Hank with a frown. "But when it comes to business and romance, Hank Perkins is not a man to just give up! I made a few pie charts, explained the benefits of a relationship with me, and told him that clearly it was worth experimenting a little when he had spent years employing an attractive woman as his number two while making no attempt to even test the waters with her."

"Well, maybe he respected the limits of a work relationship."

"He's a supervillain," Hank pointed out. "Violating workplace rules and regulations? Not so much of an issue."

"Hmm. True."

Monique paused in mid-sip of her coffee. "Wait, he _is_ a supervillain?"

"_Was_, of course. Now he is an entrepreneur, and my very hunky older boyfriend. Have you seen the man with his shirt off, by any chance? I don't know if it's some kind of secret implants I don't know about, or if the man just works out when I don't see it, but you could cut glass with those pectoral muscles."

Monique shuddered at the thought. Given her girlfriend's much more extensive experience with Drakken, she had to assume that Kim would have shuddered herself right into temporary unconsciousness.

Once again, Monique found herself thinking of her girlfriend. The cupcakes were no help. Talking to Hank was no help. Monique supposed that she had gotten used to having Kim around all the time, not worrying about missions, about whether Kim was alright. This weekend had just been too jarring. She was about to ask Hank if they could get in contact with Drakken and see if there were any updates on Kim and Ron's situation when she heard the door of the cafe opening. Most of the customers had left, and no one had entered the cafe in a while, so Monique looked back over the top of her booth at the door.

She smiled at the sight that greeted her. Kim looked a little chilly in that midriff-baring mission outfit, but the smile she returned was warm enough to bake a cupcake.

"Kim! You're back!"

Monique leaped out of the booth and ran across the shop to pull her girlfriend into an enthusiastic hug. Kim patted Monique on the back, and gave an overly theatrical groan after a moment to indicate that she needed some air. Monique smiled even more widely as Kim gave her a kiss upon her release.

"How'd you know I was here, girl?"

"Wade traced your cell phone," said Kim. "I got dropped off the the warehouse and Drakken wasn't there, so I figured I'd just go to our apartment but then _you_ weren't there, and once I found out you were here I thought I'd surprise you. And I need to let Hank and Drakken know what's going on, I guess. Why _are_ you here, anyway?"

"Because the cupcakes are totally T.D.F, duh," said Monique as she looked over at the booth where Hank was sitting and gave him a wink. "That and I just kinda stumbled on it when I was walking around downtown."

"A night out on the town, huh? Enjoying your time without me?"

Kim laughed, but Monique's expression was serious enough that she stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just been one of those weekends."

"Ah. Tell me about it."

Monique wasn't quite ready to let Kim know that she had just been griping about her romantic worries to the boyfriend of one of Kim's former supervillain archnemeses – the whole situation seemed awkward, to say the least – so she decided to shift the focus to her girlfriend instead.

"Well, what's up Kim? Tell me all about the mission! What's the sitch with you and Ron?"

Kim held out a hand to slow her down.

"Okay, but let's go back to the apartment first, shall we?"

"Sounds good to me."

The two of them were about to leave when the cafe door burst open, its bell chiming wildly. Drakken stood in the doorway and stared at the two girls in front of him before noticing Hank over their shoulder. His flustered expression changed momentarily into good humor as he gave his boyfriend a wave.

"Hello, Hank!"

"Hi Drakken! Back from work, I hope?"

"Indeed. Assad and I made a lot of progress, and the loading dock door looks as good as new. Once we have the warehouse open again, things should be rolling smoothly. Speaking of which..."

Drakken looked back at Kim Possible as if remembering she was still there. She looked like she was waiting to leave the shop, were it not for his standing in her way. "Kim Possible," he said. "You're back from your mission?"

"That's right. I guess I missed you at the warehouse."

"Well, what did you find?"

"Shego stole your cupcakes."

Drakken felt confused for a moment, then surprised as he hadn't seen Shego in years, then angry that she would brazenly steal his merchandise. Then, finally, he felt a bolt of fear run down his spine.

"Why?" he stammered. "Did – did I do something to make her angry?"

Kim rolled her eyes at her old foe. "Work it out between yourselves, okay?"

Drakken pondered the statement, feeling a little indignant at Kim's snippy tone. Not even a teen anymore, as far as he knew, but still with the sass all the time. He couldn't think of what he had possibly done to Shego to merit thievery. Other than that whole awkward misunderstanding a few years ago, but there was no way Shego could still be hung up about that. Not unless she held grudges for a long, long time.

Did she? He felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead.

"What did you guys say you were going to pay me? A hundred dollars?"

Drakken peered suspiciously at Kim.

"You didn't bring my Cupcake Containment Chamber back?"

"Ugh," said Kim as she realized her mistake. Not that a hundred dollars made that much of a difference in the first place. "Okay, no, I guess I didn't. So whatever. See you later."

The bell on the shop's front door chimed a cheerful goodbye as Kim took Monique by the hand and brushed by Drakken to leave the store. He stood in the middle of his cafe, flummoxed, until Hank motioned for him to come sit in the booth with him. The store was now empty besides Hank and himself, so Drakken locked the door and flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed' before slipping behind the cafe counter and getting himself a cup of coffee. He grabbed a cupcake from below the display counter for good measure – one of the few that had not been bought and eaten by his customers that day.

"Shego?" asked Hank. "We haven't heard from her in a long time."

"No, we have not."

"Do you think we're in any trouble?"

Drakken did not answer, but Hank did notice his throat twitch in a telltale gulp. He knew Drakken's old sidekick had a vicious temper, from the many lurid – and probably somewhat exaggerated – tales that his boyfriend had told him. Hank sat back in the booth with Drakken and finished his coffee in silence as he thought about the news.

"Don't you worry – I'll protect you from her, Drewbie."

"Oh Perky Werky," laughed Drakken, "you silly, naïve man."

His laughter cut off awkwardly as the pet name Hank had called him began to sink in, reminding him of his mother. "Also, please don't call me Drewbie. It brings up unpleasant maternal associations."

"Noted!"

Hank sat quietly with Drakken and enjoyed the cozy cafe. Drakken's former employee and sidekick, stealing their cupcakes through intermediaries so she wouldn't have to show her face to him. Maybe she was running tests on their product. Maybe testing their defenses for a greater strike. Or maybe she was just being vindictive after hearing her old flame had started a successful new enterprise without her. A little childish, he thought. But love could make people do some crazy things.

XX

A terrifying night was beginning to wind down, and Ron sat at an outdoor bar with Shego that overlooked the beach. The bar was small, square, surrounded by stools, and covered by a thatched roof that was lined with Christmas lights for some inexplicable reason. A bartender stood inside of the square of counters and poured another shot for Shego, who downed it in a single gulp. The bartender clearly knew not only who she was, but that she had a superhumanly high alcohol tolerance and a very short temper if that tolerance was not met immediately.

"So we went out, but it was all weird," said Shego, a little more sober than she had been earlier that night. "He was always like, 'Shego, why are you leaning in to kiss me, we're in a public restaurant', stuff like that. And pretty soon he broke the truth."

"What happened then?" asked Ron.

"Oh, I beat that moron black and blue. Which, come on, have you seen the guy? That's not easy!"

Shego laughed uproariously as Ron sat at the bar with a nervous grin. He looked at the bartender as if silently asking whether Shego brought any other young men to this bar before dragging them out onto the beach and eating them alive. The bartender seemed to pick up the meaning behind Ron's look and gave him a sympathetic eyebrow shrug in reply as he silently cleaned a cocktail shaker with a towel.

"Well, sorry about that," said Ron. "That's gotta be a bummer."

He patted Shego on the shoulder, who almost jerked back, but decided to let it pass.

"He probably felt threatened by you. I mean, you're a strong, independent woman who does her own thing!"

Shego forced back a laugh. The comment was corny, but endearing. And definitely true, she reminded herself.

"Yeah, I mean – no, wait. No, it's not a bummer. You know what, Stoppable? You gotta live in the present and stop lingering on the past, and so do I. Drakken was always self-absorbed. The only person he could ever be in love with is himself. It's the same as Kim Possible, always thinking she's number one. Why do you think she made you a sidekick?"

"Well, I kind of wanted to be."

Ron had thought about some of the things he said to Kim earlier that day, and he knew that he wasn't being as fair as he could have been. Kim might be jealous of his monkey powers, but to be honest, Ron was a little scared of them as well. He had wanted to go to Yamanouchi in order to gain control over those powers, but it was a double edged sword – he remembered being scared of the idea of having a destiny, of having a power that was bigger than he was. Something that would change him from Ron Stoppable into a new person. Possibly a person he did not recognize.

"I guess I still kind of want to be a sidekick," he admitted. "Maybe a more useful sidekick, but I don't know if I'd be any good as the top dog. What about you?"

"What about me?" said Shego.

"What do you want to be? I mean, you were kind of Drakken's sidekick."

Ron blanched at a sudden low grumble coming from Shego. "A totally unfair position," he said, "since you were so much more talented than Drakken ever was."

"Lame sucking up," said Shego, "but I'll let it pass."

Shego grew silent as she tapped her empty shot glass against the bar. She had been trying to make a point, but now Ron was making her consider her own situation. She fished some cash out of her pocket, grabbed Ron by the arm, and pulled him away from the bar as the two of them walked towards the beach.

Ron looked back and gave the bartender another glance, just the tiniest bit worried for his safety. The bartender raised an eyebrow and watched the two of them leave, glad that – this time - Shego had come to his bar after her usual streak of partying damage had already been done.

"I guess I haven't really figured things out after I stopped working for Drakken," said Shego. "You know I have a degree in child development, right?"

"I remember you mentioning that. Why'd you get a degree like that?"

Shego knew there were some complicated reasons for why she had chosen the degree, some of which stemmed from her own unusual childhood, when she and her brothers had been forced into bizarre situation against their will that separated them from other children. But there was another good answer to why she had chosen that field of study. One that was easier to put into words.

"I like kids."

"For real?"

"Yeah, what's up with the tone? Like I can't have layers or something?"

Ron shrugged. He had a hard time envisioning Shego bouncing a squealing baby on her knee, or tolerating a teenager for more than five seconds without ending up in jail on assault changes and breaking out five minutes later. But then, she had been showing him a side that he hadn't seen before.

"I'm pretty good with kids," said Ron. "I've been helping my folks raise my sister, Hana. I think I'm gonna be a pretty good dad whenever I get the chance."

"And when's that? No offense, but you don't strike me as remotely ready to have kids, Stoppable."

Ron looked a little chagrined by her comment, and Shego felt something in response – exasperation, probably. But definitely not guilt. She was completely right, after all.

"Relax," she said. "Not like I'm ready either. I don't know if you were paying attention in health class, but you need someone else to have kids, you know. You still wanna be Kim's boyfriend?"

Ron took a moment to think about it. Kim had been right; he was not over her, and he had never really dealt with the breakup. Maybe he had even dealt with it in a childish way, convincing himself that he was wronged and that it had all been Kim's fault. Avoiding any thought about the circumstances that had led up to it. And yet, he knew the answer to Shego's question.

"No," he finally said. "I think I'll always love Kim, but I'm not in love with her anymore. I guess that part of our lives is past. And she's with Monique now, anyway – I couldn't break the two of them up. I just want to be friends with her again, you know? Best friends since Pre-K, and then all of a sudden there's nothing left. That leaves a hole that never gets filled in with anything else."

Shego nodded. For a buffoon, he could be surprisingly poetic sometimes.

"What about you? Are you still crushing on Drakken?"

"Doctor D? No, like I said, he's too self-absorbed, and he was never into me anyway. And Kim was right about most of what she said. The whole island lair, the buff henchmen, Midas, it was all like a rebound thing."

Shego knew it was a little more than that, but it would hurt her pride to say it out loud. When things had ended with Drakken she had actually tried to be a supervillain. Years of working with Drakken, surreptitiously selling a few of his devices on the black market, stealing things on the side, had amassed her a considerable fortune. She had bought the island, built the lair, hired the gleaming bronzed bodyguards to not only serve her but give her some eye candy – and extra special massages on the side.

But time had told Shego that she was no supervillain. The monitoring, the micromanaging, the day to day inconveniences of keeping a high-tech operation running day and night: all of it had exhausted her. She didn't like ordering henchmen around either - or, to be honest, she did, but having to actually make up the orders and manage them was boring.

It wasn't that Shego _couldn't_ be a supervillain, but it just didn't interest her. She liked wisecracking, observing, watching one of Drakken's pie-in-the-sky plans fall apart. She liked having an easy exit strategy if people like Kim Possible foiled things as well. Nothing to defend, nothing to tie her down if she needed to cut and run. The only reason she had stayed with Drakken so long was his particular brand of dorky charm and amusing schemes.

And so her island empire had fallen apart, and eventually she devolved from a supervillain into a resentful recluse surrounded by henchmen with very little to do. Until the cupcake stealing.

"Having Midas around must be awkward if he's an ex-boyfriend," said Ron.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about getting rid of him. I guess I'm just too lazy, and he does do a good job of taking care of the island for me. He just wasn't that interesting. And he didn't even pick up on the fighting and villainy skills the way Junior did – no real talent for it. It took forever just to get him to land hits instead of throwing himself off balance every time he threw a punch."

"Is that why you hired all those henchmen who look sort of like Junior?" Ron asked, hoping that he wasn't stumbling onto yet another awkward fixation Shego had for someone else.

"No, no," laughed Shego. "Well, I mean, sort of. I've always had kind of a thing for brawny tanned guys, especially if they give massages. I thought it would be a good idea to hire them as my henchmen. But you know what?"

Ron looked up at her as the two of them walked along the dark beach, waiting for an answer. The surf crashed against the shore as Shego formed her realization. Talking to Ron was surprisingly effective at getting her to engage in a little introspection. Maybe it was that he paid attention, listened, and sometimes even asked questions, instead of staring at her with a slack jaw.

"The buff guys are really freaking boring. And they can't do that much. Midas is less idiotic than most, but he's still pretty bland. I guess after Midas and those henchmen, I started to realize that maybe I'm into guys who are a little more dorky. A little more interesting, with a bit of that childlike wonder going on. Like Drakken, basically."

"It wasn't just an older dude kind of thing?"

"No," said Shego. "Honestly, the age difference threw me off at first, until I got used to it."

"So you stole the cupcakes from him to get attention, like Kim said?"

Shego shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know if that's true or not. I did feel compelled to steal them. Maybe I really am that petty and I just couldn't consciously admit it to myself, I dunno."

The conversation lost itself into the sound of the waves as Shego and Ron passed along the beach. The lights of the town bordered them on their right, and the occasional laugh and chatter of conversation reached them from its streets, but the beach was dark and mostly empty, giving them a little privacy. Before long, they came upon a small inlet bordered by a large villa. A covered dock jutted out into the inlet, and a yacht was moored by its side, bobbing gently in the surf.

"This looks like private property, said Ron. "You sure we should be here?"

"Live a little, Stoppable."

The gate to the dock was locked and chained shut, but Shego severed the chain with a swipe of her fiery hand. For a split second, the gloomy night air around the dock was lit by a flash of green light.

The moonlight was bright enough to guide their way as Shego led Ron down the dock and onto the yacht. They climbed aboard and opened a hatch that led into the living quarters. Shego found a light and turned it on. It was well-furnished, and as she opened the refrigerator in the small kitchenette, she was happy to see they had some soda. She decided she had downed enough alcohol for one night. A few cupboards revealed bags of chips, as well as a few bags of Pop Pop Porter's Food Style Pork Wafers. Shego jerked her head to the side as Ron's hand shot up, grabbing one greedily from the cupboard.

"Saw something you liked, huh?"

"Totally. They're food-style!" exclaimed Ron through a mouthful.

"Say it, don't spray it."

Shego wiped a few crumbs from her suit and continued to explore the yacht. There wasn't that much to explore, but she always enjoyed trespassing. Among the many other illegal activities she enjoyed. Not to mention that, as horrifying as it was to admit, she was actually enjoying being away from her island in the company of Kim's sidekick.

She had to admit that being on her island lair could get lonely. Things had gotten awkward after she had broken up with Midas, and none of the other henchmen made very good conversationalists unless you wanted grunts and confused head-scratching. As much as Drakken had annoyed her sometimes, he always had something to say. And as annoying as Ron could be sometimes, he certainly had things to say too.

The two of them went down a narrow hallway running from the kitchen to the interior of the yacht, Ron trying his best to balance a handful of sodas and snacks in his hand. Shego looked back with a grin; she found it hilarious that discovering one of his favorite snacks had been enough to make him forget that he was holding, and about to be eating, someone else's property. She wondered if maybe his scruples were not quite set in stone the way Kimmie's were.

They snooped around in several small compartments as they traversed the yacht's interior, finding nothing of much interested. When they reached the end of the hall, Shego opened a door to find a surprisingly expansive bedroom compartment within. Whoever owned the yacht liked to spend a lot of time on it, she supposed. The boat was nice enough that she was beginning to consider stealing it.

Shego went into the bedroom and looked out a circular window set into the hull, over the bed. The waterline was only a few feet below the window, and she could see the moonlit ocean waves lapping beyond the boat, whispering a soft murmur as they caressed its hull. The moon hung bright in the distance, and over the whispers of the ocean, she heard a lone buoy bell ringing plaintively in the distance.

Ron had already sat on the bed and cracked open a soda, the loud snap breaking the silence of the room. The ocean's spell was temporarily broken, and Shego looked down at him as a predatory grin crossed over her face. Kim Possible had been a real pain in the ass that day - not just to her, but to the buffoon as well. Shego wondered how Princess would react to the news that her ex boyfriend had been defiled by her arch nemesis. Not only that, but Shego hadn't gotten laid in quite a while. Two birds with one stone.

"Hey Stoppable," she said. "Put down that soda."

Ron paused in mid-gulp and stared at Shego's expression. Heard a soft cackle come from near the doorway as she slipped over to the wall and turned off the bedroom light. Felt a soft bump from the bed as Shego took a seat beside him. Felt another soft bump as an arm brushed against his own.

Ron had not put down the soda, and it went flying out of his hand as Shego pushed him onto his back, hard. The soda rolled across the floor, spilling its contents on the carpet until there was nothing left. The dark form of Kim's arch nemesis blocked Ron's vision as she lifted one leg over Ron's body and straddled him on the bed. Her black hair was lit by the moonlight coming from the round boat window behind them. Her eyes twinkled maliciously.

"Did Princess ever do this to you, Stoppable?"

Ron gulped in a combination of fear and excitement. Probably more of the former.

"Uh, Shego, you're drunk."

"Not really."

"This is someone else's bed. We're on their sheets. It's kinda gross, don't you think?"

Ron felt the bedsheets ripped out from under him as Shego pulled them out, like an entertainer ripping a tablecloth from a table without disturbing the settings.

"We don't need sheets."

Ron's mind began to race. He was trapped; pinned with no escape. Was this good or bad? Thoughts – Shego – about to be eaten alive – trouble concentrating – hands behind back – being pulled up, so warm -

"Kiss me, dork."

XX

A stairway rose for three stories, open to the night air, connecting two apartment buildings together. Kim and Monique's room was on the second floor – room 203. The light in the small outdoor entryway to the second floor apartments was out, and a key fumbled in the darkness as Monique tried to open the door. Two bodies stumbled into the apartment as the key finally slipped into the lock. Kim closed the door quickly, not wanting to lose the warmth in their home to the cold night.

"I missed you so much," said Monique as she turned on the light and sat down on the couch. "I know it's stupid, but you wouldn't believe the things I started thinking, Kim – I was worried you were gonna get back together with Ron, that you were gonna break up with me, that-"

"Wait, what?"

Kim sat down on the couch with her girlfriend. Monique was wearing a faux-fur jacket, which she had taken off in the warmth of the apartment, and since Kim was still cold, she grabbed it and wrapped it around herself.

"I don't now, I just started totally jelling!" explained Monique. "I know it's stupid, Kim, but I'm not as strong as you are. I might act like it but I'm not. I was talking with Steve and Paul at the mall the other day and they told me I was being ridiculous but I guess I didn't listen and I-"

"Monique, Monique!"

Kim held a finger up to Monique's lips, silencing her for a moment, and pulled her into an embrace. Partly to comfort her, and partly because the jacket was still not warming her up quickly enough. "You know I'm not going to get back together with Ron. That's all in the past."

Monique felt a pang of guilt. Kim had told her about the mission, about how things did not look like they were going to work out with Ron. Monique knew that Kim wanted to be friends with him again, and she felt bad for worrying about the two of them getting together again when she should have been hoping for the mission to rekindle their friendship. She wanted to be friends with Ron again too, after all.

But with her girlfriend back, Monique's melancholy over the situation with Ron did not last long. She couldn't repress her gladness, and what was more, she knew the minute she had seen her girlfriend standing in that bakery door, back from her mission, that her worries had been unfounded.

"Monique, you know I want to be with you right? I still care about Ron, I'm probably never going to stop caring about him, but you're the one I want to be with. You're mine."

"I know. I'm just glad you're back."

Kim smiled, glad to be back as well. The mission had been draining, and she was finally home. Her home away from home, at least. The two of them were together again. Kim could no longer resist edging closer and holding Monique, greedily grasping, pulling her in for a kiss.

She remembered the first kiss. The first time they were together - really together. It was not the kind of thing Kim would forget, but she had never seen it coming either.

Her morning classes had ended, and Kim had left the building and chosen an open space in the center of a picnic area between campus buildings. A gazebo had stood nearby, but Kim had wanted to feel the green grass beneath her legs. She had wanted to spread out a small tablecloth and eat the lunch she had made for herself under a warm noon sun hanging high in the sky.

She spread her tablecloth, white with a red checkered pattern of course, and took her lunch from its brown paper bag. Sandwich, thermos of apple juice, bag of fresh strawberries. Being with Ron had sharpened her culinary skills, and while Ron was not with her anymore, the skills were still around. Kim liked the sandwiches she made, especially after a tough class.

"Kim," came a voice from across the green square. It was her best friend, Monique.

"Hey Monique! I thought you had a class?"

"We got out early. Teach had a bad spell of the whooping cough."

"Yikes." Kim motioned to the spread around her. "Why don't you have some lunch with me? I'll try to tear the sandwich in half."

Monique sat down on the other side of the tablecloth while Kim tried her best to take the sandwich apart without a knife. The attempt failed, and the poor sandwich was torn apart in a mess. Kim blushed a little as her friend laughed at the sight. Kim offered her the sandwich, but Monique shook her head, and Kim decided that she had ruined it enough to make it look completely unappetizing. She shrugged and opened her bag of strawberries, eating one and throwing another for Monique to catch.

"Hey Kim?"

Kim saw a change in Monique's expression as the two of them ate their strawberries. While Monique had been smiling and laughing a moment before, she was now serious. Concentrating. As if she was about to say something very important.

"What is it?"

"I'm about to tell you something, and, well – you might freak a little?"

"Are you asking me, or telling me?"

"Uh, kinda both."

"Why would I freak?"

"It's just that..."

Monique faltered a little, and Kim began to feel herself growing nervous. Whatever it was, Kim hoped it Monique was not preparing to tell her some bad news.

"Well, you already know I like the ladies, of course."

Kim nodded. Monique had, in fact, told her about that in the past. She had kept quiet in high school for a number of reasons, but Kim was happy that Monique could be more open with her in college.

"Well, it's not just _any_ ladies I happen to like."

"Oh yeah?"

Kim sensed incoming gossip, and she did enjoy a little gossip from time to time. Monique nodded, her body language unusually shy compared to her regular demeanor.

"Someone in particular?" asked Kim. "Someone I know?"

And that was when, instead of an answer, Kim had gotten a kiss. A wild, passionate kiss, a kiss that Monique had taken from her by making a sudden leap across the tablecloth and knocking their lunch aside. The kiss, of course, had been an answer without words. Kim had been shocked by the kiss. Shocked that Monique had never said anything about her true feelings until then.

The aching lips and soft caress spoke of years of pent up desire, of unspoken longing, and Kim had understood Monique's feelings in an instant. Her own feelings had been unclear – shock had been the one overriding reaction – but there had been _something_ about that kiss. Maybe it had been the urgency, the insistence. Or maybe it had been the taste of strawberry.

She tasted that strawberry now, sitting in the familiar comfort of their apartment, wrapped in Monique's arms.

"What is that?" she asked.

Monique smiled. She was able to read Kim's mind by the tone of her voice, able to know her thoughts by observing the trace of her tongue going over a lower lip.

"Strawberry cupcake," she managed to say, just before Kim went in for another taste.

XX

It made no difference how late it was to Wade – he was a creature of the night, and he had lots to do in his game of _Everlot_. Orcs to slay, experience points to gain. He was still in a bad mood mood after the total bust that the mission had been, as well – Wade had barely talked to Kim since she left the island, since he figured she probably wanted a little time to herself, and it was hard to get much from Ron since he was sort of undercover, tailing Shego around.

_Speaking of Ron_, thought Wade as he found a safe spot to hide his wizard avatar before he opened a screen that kept watch over Ron's tracking chip readouts, _what are you up to down there?_

The chip was still pulsing a clear signal from Cyprus. Wade couldn't figure it out – his imagination ran wild as he looked at the readings on the signal. Maybe after Kim's stormy departure, Ron had convinced Shego that he wanted to dip his toe into the turbulent waters of villainy, and the two of them were paying a visit to some villain contact Shego had. Maybe they were robbing something, and Ron was gathering evidence against her. Or, more likely, too terrified to do anything. He could be in need of Wade's help. Or maybe-

Wade looked at the readouts more closely. Ron's signal had been in one place for quite a while. He took a few moments to hack into various systems, run his greedy fingers through the information superhighway to see what traffic he could pick up, and got a few satellite pictures over the area. He zoomed in on a photo and quickly recognized where the signal was emanating from. A yacht.

Ron's tracking chip had a few other odds and ends built into it, just to make sure he was okay, and Wade now noticed that the heart rate and temperature readings were going up. Weird, he thought. Maybe Ron was in some kind of danger. Wade stared at the readings, nonplussed, until something occurred to him, and in the darkness of his room, he felt the prickly heat of a deep blush spreading over his face.

"_Wade Load!_"

Wade gasped and minimized the screen as quickly as he could, whirling around in his chair at the sound of his mother's voice. She was standing in the doorway, and Wade almost fell out of his chair and knocked a computer off his desk as he tried to regain his balance after the wild swivel.

"Mom! Hi! How are you doing? Nice night huh?"

"Wade, can't you go to bed? I can hear you typin' away in here – you always type so darn loud!"

"Sorry about that. Any minute now."

His mother grumbled and closed the door again, and Wade breathed a sigh of relief as he returned to the computers. He decided, for the time being, to keep Ron's chip readouts closed and away from his sight. He was sure Ron was doing alright, and Wade didn't need to be checking in all the time. Maybe he'd see what was going on tomorrow.

But for now, it was straight to bed. And hopefully he wouldn't have any bad dreams.

XX

Shego was truly enjoying herself for the first time in months. She looked down at Ron's pleased, somewhat vacant expression as he lay pinned beneath her. Ron had looked a little terrified when they first started, sort of like a trapped animal, and that had appealed to Shego in its own twisted way, but she could tell that he was realizing just how much he was lucking out. He was still just going along for the ride, but Shego didn't mind that either. She liked to be in control.

_Princess never gave you anything like this_, she silently spoke to him, feeling a little cocky. _I guess she can't do everything, can she?_

Shego grinned voraciously as she leaned down and pulled Ron into a deep kiss. The boat rocked gently in the dark waves, and the two of them followed its motion. Ron winced slightly as a pair of fingernails dug into his skin, just a little bit. She let herself go - just a little bit - and their black outlines lit with a faint green glow in the darkness as her hands pulsed with energy. They were hot to the touch, warming Ron's skin just enough to elicit another wince. But it was a good wince. Shego could tell.

Maybe it was the fact that he had an innocent vibe to him. Maybe it was the fact that he was Kim Possible's sidekick, her ex-boyfriend, a way in which she could best her foe in at least at one activity. Maybe she just enjoyed his company. He did have a certain charm when he calmed down a little, and he was a better conversationalist than those mouth breathers who worked for her. As for Ron's knack in the sack - well, Shego was pulling a lot of the slack. She began to feel like it was time to speed things up a bit.

"Don't be scared, Ron."

Ron laughed nervously in the darkness. "Me?" he asked. "Scared? No way!"

"Then touch me. Touch me more."

Shego guided his hands, felt them running over her naked skin, coursing through her black hair. She arched her neck, electrified by the feeling of fingers tracing invisible patterns over her. She ran his hands down her face, and then pinned his arms to the mattress as she dipped down, close enough to see his eyes glint in the moonlight.

"I saw you fighting my henchmen earlier," she whispered. "You had that blue glow. The one you had when you defeated the Lorwardians."

"The mystical monkey power. What about it?"

"Use it."

Ron looked confused for a moment, but he began to concentrate as Shego arched her back and clenched herself to him more tightly. Her hands flared with luminous power as she ran them over Ron's chest, and he began to glow with his own blue aura. The moon's glow was replaced with a haze of cyan as their colors merged into one.

Shego drew in a sharp grasp. Drakken, Midas, her failed attempts at supervillainy, her loss of direction in life – none of it mattered to her. The past melted away, leaving her only in the moment. And it was a pretty good moment, as far as moments went.

The ocean grew restless, and the boat began to rock harder.

XX

The light was still on, but no one sat on the living room couch. A jacket lined in soft white faux-fur lay lazily over the back of the couch, and further along the floor, a shirt lay discarded on the floor. Another shirt lay even further from the couch, in the direction of the bedroom door, which was hanging ajar. A pair of cargo pants just inside the door pointed towards another pair of pants, which in turn pointed towards a bed surrounded by a light scattering of undergarments. No clothing could be found in the bed. Only sheets, Kim, and Monique.

"I love you, Monique."

Monique grasped Kim lightly by the arms, stopping her, and looked up into her piercing green eyes.

"You know you never said that to me before?"

Kim was shocked, and a little embarrassed.

"I haven't?"

"Nope."

"I'm sorry – I had no idea."

"I'm not complaining, I was just a little surprised," laughed Monique. "And I love you too."

Kim dipped down again for a kiss. Although she could no longer taste strawberry, she tasted Monique, which was exactly what she wanted. Two bodies entwined as one as the sheets rustled and twisted in the dim light of a bedside lamp. Nearby, a black covering was draped over the bird cage, as Kim felt a little strange about taking things to the bedroom while their pet budgerigars watched. Monique sometimes teased her for caring about such a strange thing, but she supposed that everyone had their quirks.

"Do I take you for granted, Monique?"

"I don't think so."

"Do I not pay enough attention to you? I'm worried that I'm so absorbed in my work sometimes that maybe I forget to put as much into our relationship as I-"

"Hey," said Monique. "No worries, Kim. I'm not that high-maintenance, okay? I get all the attention I need from you, and believe me, you're paying more than enough attention to me right now. Or you were a second ago, before you started yapping. So get your head in the game."

Kim flashed a grin, and Monique pulled her back down, dispelling all worries, all thoughts outside the moment. Kim whipped soft blankets in a pale blur over their heads, and Monique laughed as she was covered by a whirl of white fabric, peach skin, and red hair.

Their hands clutched each other as skin brushed against skin. Kim released one of Monique's hands and cupped her cheek as the two of them kissed, and then she began to sink lower, lower along the trail of Monique's neck, chest, stomach. A dark hand clutched tightly at a handful of bedsheets as Kim flicked her tongue playfully at the bellybutton she had just found, hidden beneath the sheets. Kim's tongue continued on its path, and Monique let out a small gasp.

_On a mission! _came a squawk from the covered bird cage.

Kim smiled. She was on a mission. She wanted to make sure that this relationship would last, that she wouldn't make the same mistakes she had in the past. She would tell Monique that she loved her from now on. She would make sure that she didn't drift away. The two of them would stay close. They would talk and encourage and share in their emotions. She would give Monique what she needed.

And Kim made a promise, which Monique confirmed with a faint moan, that she would begin doing that immediately.

XX

_Ding!_

A faraway buoy sent the chime of its bell echoing through the night air. The ocean's waves lapped over beaches, against the wooden legs of a private dock, and against the hull of a yacht moored to that dock. Inside the yacht's bedroom, Shego rolled off of Ron and lay by his side on the bare mattress, breathing heavily.

"Better than I thought," she told him.

"What can I say - the Ron man came to play."

Ron's statement had a little less chutzpah than it should have. Not only because it was coming from Ron, but because Ron himself sounded so exhausted that the words barely escaped from his mouth. The bedroom compartment was dark again, lit only by moonlight from the hull window as the glow of their powers had already subsided.

Shego turned on her side and bunched one of the bed's pillows under her head. She had no intention of going out again that night – the two of them would sleep in the yacht until morning. If it had enough gas, maybe they'd even steal it and use it to go back to her island. Although they would have to get her hovercraft, Shego remembered with a frown.

Her thoughts began to race as the rush of her body died down. There was no denying it had been an enjoyable night – particularly its culmination in the yacht. But she began to realize who was lying next to her on the mattress: Ron Stoppable. Kim Possible's sidekick, and a total dork to boot. And not even remotely villainous. Maybe he would start clinging to her like a leech. Maybe he would tell everyone about what had happened, and she'd be the laughingstock of the villain community. She could blame it on being drunk, but she couldn't fool herself. Shego knew she had been sobering up even before they got on the yacht.

Maybe she could take him in, train him, groom him into villainy just like she had done with Junior. Ron might have tips and tricks concerning Possible and Global Justice, about other enemies that Shego might face, so he would be an interesting ally to –

_ No_, she thought. _Impossible_. There was no way someone like Stoppable would go to the dark side. She could see it happening with Kim, possibly, but not Ron. As he began to snore loudly beside her, Shego wondered if she had made a mistake.


	12. Home Invasion

**Home Invasion**

XX

The hovercraft tilted a little as Ron shifted his weight to one side, peering over into the blue waters of the Mediterranean Ocean passing by beneath them. After a moment, he raised his head up and closed his eyes while the wind whipped through his hair. His red and white-trimmed shirt, along with his long-sleeved black undershirt – the same outfit he had worn for countless years – billowed and undulated against the force of the wind.

Shego laughed as Ron attempted to lean back a little, inadvertently letting a stream of wind worm its way beneath his shirt and sent it whipping up over his head. She had been watching him enjoy the ride ever since they left Cyprus, like a dog sticking its head out of the side of the car. There had been a few opportune moments where Shego felt a sudden, stabbing urge to give the hovercraft a sharp tip and send Ron flying off the side and into the ocean, but she decided it would be both mean and dangerous at the speed they were going.

It was strange to wrap her head around. She was actually refraining from playing a cruel and hilarious prank on Kim Possible's sidekick; maybe she was going soft. Maybe some of the nagging doubts in the back of her mind were more insistent than she had realized. Perhaps the lull in her recent supervillain activities was not just due to laziness of lack of interest in leadership and henchman management; maybe, even if she had taken longer to accept it than Drakken, she was beginning to reconsider her priorities in life.

Shego rolled her eyes in amusement. What a ridiculous idea. Sometimes she had a vivid imagination.

"I can't believe that guy didn't shoot us," Ron shouted over the roar of the elements.

The man to whom Ron was referring was the yacht owner, who had walked in on the two of them in his bedroom. Judging by the rush of angry words that came from his mouth, Shego had gotten the impression that he had been intending to spend a day of luxurious relaxation on the open ocean, and had been very unhappy to notice that someone had broken onto his dock and ransacked his boat. Shego couldn't have cared less, but the fact that the man was also carrying a loaded pistol had been enough to catch her attention, at least.

"You haven't lived unless you get a gun aimed at you once in a while," said Shego. "You'd know that if you weren't such a do-gooder, Stoppable."

"Um, I've had guns aimed at me all the time," said Ron. "And lasers, and doomsday weapons, and freeze rays. Also mutant weiner dogs, sharks, sharks _with_ lasers-"

"Okay, okay. I spoke too fast, sheesh! Still, you gotta admit, sex in a yacht that's not yours gives you a little bit more of a thrill than sex anywhere else."

Ron's only reply was a deep blush.

It took Shego a moment to realize that the comment sort of implied that she made it a regular practice of having one night stands on yachts that weren't hers, and while Shego was no prude, she wondered if the image was a little unflattering. Ultimately, however, she didn't really care.

All the talk of last night was reminding Shego that she really had to make things clear to Ron as well. After all, it _was_ a one night stand. Ron had a bit of dorky charm sometimes, like Drakken did, and Shego had only recently begun to admit that she had a thing for that, but he could also be immature and petulant, also like Drakken. He wasn't prime relationship material.

Even if he was, the fact remained that he was Kim Possible's sidekick. Ex-sidekick, judging by the way Kimmie had left the other day. He worked alongside Global Justice, he had foiled her plans multiple times and helped Kim send her to prison in the past, and she had even tried to kill the two of them before. It was true that she treated it as a sort of game, and she had the feeling Kim had often felt the same way, but it was a game with very real consequences, and she and Ron did not play the same side.

Last night had been a surprisingly enjoyable fluke. A fluke which she could use to dig at Kim Possible if she ever needed to, but that was as far as it went.

Shego was wondering when to make her feelings clear to Ron when the hovercraft cut through a cloud bank and her island lair came into view far below. She began to throttle back a little, letting the hovercraft descend as the island drew nearer. She'd probably end up letting Ron know last night was a one time thing as soon as he got ready to leave, just in case he got whiny or clingy. Easier for both of them that way.

The island drew closer as the hovercraft descended, and the details of individual buildings grew more clear in the morning sunlight. Shego pressed a button on the control panel and tried to radio Midas to let him know they were incoming, almost as an afterthought, but there was no response from the island. Not that it was unusual; it was still early, and half the time neither Shego nor her henchmen would be up before noon. The hovercraft approached the inner courtyard connected to the living quarters of Shego's island lair, and as Shego guided it down for a landing, she noticed that the glass sliding door leading into the lounge area was still shattered. Her lips curled in annoyance; Midas was being even lazier than usual.

"Sooo," said Ron as the hovercraft touched down, "What kind of plans do you have for today?"

"Hold on, Stoppable."

Ron had jumped off of the hovercraft, but Shego landed beside him and put a hand on his shoulder before he approached the entrance to the lounge room. She took a few steps closer while Ron stood in place, trying to get a better look at the lounge's interior. The foosball table still lay scattered in pieces, along with broken glasses from the bar. None of her henchmen had made any attempt to clean things up after the fight caused by Kim and Ron's arrival. It still wasn't that surprising, but Shego's sixth sense was beginning to rumble. Something just seemed off.

"Shego!"

Ron's warning came too late. Shego felt herself trip and fall as she turned around, as if her shoelaces had been tied. She looked down and found her feet were glued together with a glob of Drakken's adhesive invention. In front of her, Señor Senior Senior stood in the courtyard with a smirk of triumph. His son and daughter-in-law stood beside him, and he was holding the high-tech pistol that Shego had used to restrain Kim and Ron when they first arrived on her island.

"I found it lying inside of your lounge room and, thanks to my foolish son's inability to restrain himself, discovered how it operated quite quickly," Senior explained. "It is a fascinating device, is it not?"

"Um, yeah, that's why I have it, idiot."

Senior frowned and ran a hand along his graying hair as if to shrug off Shego's comment.

"There is no need to be rude, young lady."

Junior took a dramatic step forward and crossed his beefy arms as he stared confidently at Ron. It was clear that he had been waiting for his father to finish speaking before taking his turn. "Well, well, well," he said as he looked over his opponent. "We finally meet again, Ron Stoppable. It has been far too long."

"Dude, we saw each other two days ago."

"Oh." Junior scrunched his brow as he remembered the events of the previous day. "Oh yes."

Senor Senior Senior cleared his throat loudly.

"Yes, father? Would you like a glass of water?"

Senior tilted his head insistently in Ron's direction as he stared at his son.

"Oh, right."

Junior turned back to Ron and began to circle him slowly as Bonnie started to approach on Ron's other side. The two of them looked like somewhat ludicrous tigers, approaching their prey as stealthily as possible before pouncing in a flash of overly tanned skin. Judging by her unexpected fighting pose, Ron was beginning to wonder just what Bonnie had been learning on the Senior's private island. He braced himself for their attack and began to wonder if fighting them would mean he was on Shego's side.

Ron's speculation was cut off as both Bonnie and Junior rushed at him in a pincer movement. Junor reached him first, and Ron blocked several blows only to be forced back into Bonnie, who wrapped her arms around him from behind and held him in place.

"Get him, honey!"

_Oh my God_, thought Ron. _This is both bizarre and terrifying._

Junior leaped forward and let out a yell which, if Ron wasn't mistaken, was lifted directly from Bricks of Fury II. He felt the air knocked from his lungs as Junior planted a solid kick in his chest. Bonnie tried to hold him still in her clutches, but the force of the kick was enough to send them both toppling backwards. Bonnie found herself just as winded as Ron when his weight landed directly on top of her.

"Owww!"

"Oh man," said Ron as he got up, "are you okay?"

Frightening memories of accidentally running into Bonnie in high school hallways rushed through Ron's mind as Junior rushed over to help his girlfriend up. Bonnie grimaced and held her left hand up in front of her, fingers extended, as she inspected a broken fingernail.

"Sorry my little Bon Bon – I suppose we did not plan that so well."

"That's alright," said Bonnie as she turned to Ron with a snarl. "You'll pay for my nail, dork! Literally, this manicure was three hundred dollars!"

Bonnie screeched and charged Ron with a ferocity that made him take a few steps backwards. At the last moment, he regained his confidence sidestepped Bonnie's attack, grabbing her and throwing her off balance onto the courtyard grass. Junior was on him before Bonnie even hit the ground, and Ron found himself fighting back a series of karate chops. Junior had picked up a few moves since high school. But then, so had Ron.

"Not bad, Stoppable!"

Ron tried to concentrate, tried to reach into the depths of himself and bring out that mystical power that sometimes appeared in desperate moments. Fighting Junior was not exactly a desperate moment, but Bonnie and Junior still raised their eyebrows in surprise when Ron's body began to surround itself with a faint blue aura. It was not enough to do any major damage, but it was enough to give Ron more of an edge. Junior and his girlfriend backed away temporarily as Ron flexed his muscles, ready to do battle.

"This I have not seen before," said Junior. "What is the meaning of these blue colors?"

"Let me show you," said Ron.

Junior and Bonnie attacked in another pincer movement, but Ron managed to knock both of them back with simultaneous punches. Bonnie reeled, and Junior held his jaw and winced at the punch. Although there was something cathartic about punching Bonnie after all the abuse she had piled on both Kim and himself in high school, Ron still felt a little guilty about hitting a girl. Instead, he leaped at Junior with a flying kick which sent his opponent staggering back further into the courtyard.

The two began to trade blows, and while Junior was holding his own, Ron steadily drove him back, not even noticing the slate-lined pond approaching. Junior stumbled, but just before he lost his balance and fell backwards, he managed to grab Ron by the arm and pull him into the pond as well. The two of them hit the water with a loud splash and grappled as they surfaced again.

"Junior, sweetie, are you okay?"

Junior scrambled to find footing beneath the pond as he and Ron repeatedly knocked each other beneath the surface, grappling ineffectually. Bonnie flinched and backed away as pond water splashed against her face. And it didn't look like regularly maintained pond water, either.

"I am fine, Bon – _glug_ – on the verge of – _ack_ – subduing Stoppable at this very moment!"

"Enough!" shouted Shego.

Junior and Ron struggled in the pond's water, sending water lilies flying left and right and sloshing water over the gray slate walkway that wrapped around it. Ron's monkey power seemed to agitate the koi in the pond, which nipped harmlessly – but somewhat uncomfortably – at his skin as he wrestled with Junior. Even while he was fighting, Ron was surprised at how noticeably unsettling it was to be bitten repeatedly by toothless fish lips.

"You do not stand a chance, Ron Stoppable!"

The fight's spectators watched as Junior and Ron began to devolve from wrestling and punches to slapping and hair twisting. Bonnie was just about to drag her boyfriend out of the water in disgust when a piercing voice rang out across the courtyard.

"_ENOUGH!_"

Junior and Ron paused in mid-slap, standing waist deep in pond water. Señor Senior Senior, who had been absorbed in the somewhat embarrassing fight between his son and Kim Possible's scrawny sidekick, looked down to discover he was no longer holding the adhesive goop gun.

"This is mine, grandpa."

Shego removed the gun's cartridge and threw it away, deciding it was too boring to restrain her opponents. It had taken her a few minutes to break free from her bonds, but she had been able to melt the adhesive glue binding her feet with her hand's plasma powers. They melted almost anything, given enough time.

"Alright," she said as she shook the remnants of the runny goop from her ankles. "Now, I'm getting used to unannounced guests this weekend, maybe even getting attacked by those unannounced guests. But I just watched the three of you," she said pointedly to Bonnie and the Seniors, "and I could wipe the floor with all of you in about ten seconds. So before I do that," she said as her hands lit up threateningly with crackling green flames, "Maybe one of you would like to explain to me _why_ you are here, and _why_ you just attacked us?"

"We were about to enter your lair through the lounge room," said Junior, "but we saw the damage and thought perhaps we were walking into a trap. Then we hid in the bushes when we saw your hovercraft approaching and surprise attacked you!"

"Yeah, I noticed. But why are on my friggin' island?"

Señor Senior Senior stepped forward. "We are aware that you have stolen a shipment of something from your old supervillain employer, Doctor Drakken. We thought we would infiltrate your island base and take what you have stolen for ourselves, but clearly we are a little out of practice," he said with a polite nod. "Perhaps we should have introduced ourselves more properly a long time ago, as we are neighbors."

Shego stared at the old man, amazed that he could be so charming after sneaking around in her island and ambushing her when she was just trying to come home. By all rights she should have been attacking him, but Shego felt her violent urges draining away. Not to mention that, although Junior had been part of the ambush, she still had a certain fondness for him after the time she had spent training him in the ways of supervillainy years ago. Clearly she had been an inspiring teacher.

"Well, F.Y.I, I stole cupcakes from Drakken, okay? Cupcakes! I don't know what in the world you thought you were going to find, but there's nothing of value."

"Surely you can't be serious," said Senior. "Cupcakes?"

"Don't call her Shirley," said Ron as he climbed out of the pond. His face whitened at a glare from Shego.

"Shut up, Ron."

"After all the trouble you have taken in order to steal from your old employer, surely you do not expect me to believe that you only stole cupcakes. I thought perhaps a shrink ray, or some kind of technology related to cloning. Drakken has an interest in such things, does he not?"

Senior could tell by Shego's narrowed eyes that cloning was not a reasonable guess.

"Fine, but cupcakes? Why would you steal such a thing?"

Shego felt Senior's questions begin to stoke the flames of her rage again. She could not formulate a clear reason for it, although she knew that Kim and even Ron had made a few guesses about her motivations that hit a little close to home. And her personal motivations were none of Senior's business, anyway.

"They're just really good cupcakes, okay? And how exactly did you know I stole them, anyway? Are you spying on me?"

"Do not tell me that you have not been spying on us," laughed Senior. "Are you not still a supervillain? Let us be reasonable here."

Something about being asked if she was still a supervillain gave Shego a pause. Senior, of course, would not expect Shego to answer the question in the negative, but what was her answer? She still had henchmen. She had the island, the experience, and she wasn't some tight-laced law-abiding citizen like Kim and Ron. And yet, the question threw her. Senior had inadvertently set off a light bulb in Shego's head – Kim and Ron's arrival had done the same thing, for that matter – and the light was revealing a lot of hidden confusion and doubt. Maybe Shego didn't know what she was anymore.

Either way, thought Shego as she cleared her mind of existential angst for the moment, Senior had a point about the spying. Shego was well aware of the Seniors and their own island lair, and did in fact have a satellite trained on them even if she hadn't checked it out in a while.

"Okay, so, fair point with the spying. But anyway, they're just cupcakes. Come look for yourself!"

Ron and Señor Senior Senior followed Shego through the broken glass door and into the lounge area as Bonnie fished her boyfriend out of the pond and trailed behind. Shego pointed to the Cupcake Containment Chamber, which was still sitting in the center of the lounge. There was no sign of Midas or any of her henchmen, even after the fight. Probably still asleep. Shego would have to give them a piece of her mind, even though she knew she hadn't been making much of an effort to whip them into shape lately.

She glanced into the open metal box and saw that, fortunately, there was a single box of cupcakes left over. It was a miracle that her henchmen hadn't consumed it already. Although it was embarrassing to admit, Shego supposed it was a miracle that _she_ hadn't eaten the cupcakes, with the rate she had been eating them lately.

"See?" she said as she fished the box out and waved it in front of Senior. "Cupcakes, okay?"

"Can we try them?" asked Junior.

"Yeah, whatever."

Shego opened the box and grabbed one for herself, eating the entire thing in one bite, before passing another one to Ron. Bonnie and the Seniors each took one of their own, curious as to just how good they could cupcakes could possibly be to merit such attention from Shego.

"I still say mine are better," said Ron as he took a bite of his cupcake. "Don't get me wrong, these are pretty good, but nobody tops the Ron man's baking skills."

"I am skeptical," said Junior as he took his first bite. "This taste, it is jumping in my mouth like a party! You should bake some so that we may taste test them." He leaned closer to Ron as everyone else dug into their cupcakes. "By the way, I hope there are no hard feelings with the fight. Just business, you see. My father simply will not give up on the supervillainy business."

Ron shook his head. "It's all good. Old habits die hard. And it was sorta my fault he got into it anyway."

Shego smacked the crumbs from her hands before looking around the room for a moment, and then back at her new guests, still finishing their cupcakes. "Alright," she said. "So next time, maybe just ask me if you are interested in what I'm stealing. I doubt I'll tell you, but at least you won't be risking your lives by getting on my bad side. Now, I need to figure out why my henchmen aren't around, so if you don't mind, the three of you can scram. Like, _now_."

Ron looked at Bonnie and the Seniors and did a quick mental count. Three did not include himself.

"So you don't want me to leave yet?"

"No. You can stay for..."

Shego paused, and as Ron watched, the green tint of her skin seemed to grow just the tiniest bit greener.

"Ate that cupcake too fast?"

Shego shook her head.

"No, I think I just... errghhh..."

Ron watched Shego begin to stumble a little, and noticed that Bonnie and the Seniors were looking a little green around the gills as well. Come to think of it, he wasn't feeling so well either. Maybe Junior had landed a few of his hits out in the courtyard a little harder than Ron thought. His vision began to blur as he felt himself growing weak in the knees, and he took a few tentative steps towards the lounge room couch. Probably he just needed to sit for a moment. The haze increased, and a few figures appeared in the lounge room. One of them... Ron blinked. The figures grew closer.

_Looks like Shego's second. Midas. He could be angry if he found out..._

Hands grabbed his arms, and he felt himself moving.

_Better not tell him... Shego in the yacht... jealous..._

Ron's last act before losing consciousness was vomiting on Shego's leather couch.

XX

Eggs, bacon, and sausage crackled on a skillet as Monique hummed a vague, happy tune. She only had a couple of classes, and there was more than enough time for her to enjoy the morning. Which, now that Kim had returned, was just what she intended on doing.

Monique attempted to give eggs in the pan a flip, which would have worked except that it sent one of the sausages rolling off to the side of the stove. She was decent at cooking, but she definitely had to work on the reflexes; that was one area where Kim could pull off some amazing kitchen stunts, even if she always complained about her culinary skills. Kim did not like to cook, which was one reason Monique was making breakfast; another was that Kim was still in bed, sleeping a little late after the night before.

_Guess I didn't give her much of a chance to relax after her mission_, Monique thought with a grin.

Monique turned around and gave a brief shriek of surprise at seeing Kim seated at the kitchen table.

"What, my morning hair is that scary?"

"No," laughed Monique, "I totally did not hear you coming in. You walk like a cat sometimes."

"Meow?"

Kim's timing was perfect, as breakfast was just about finished. Monique dished the food out onto two plates and passed one to Kim as she sat down on the other side of the table. The food looked excellent, but Kim looked at it a little disappointedly.

"I guess I could have gotten breakfast in bed if I had stayed there just a little while longer."

"Yep," said Monique as she took a bite of her breakfast, deciding - with as much humility as possible, of course - that her cooking was totally off the hook. "Ah well, your loss! Now eat it before it gets cold."

Kim obediently dug in, and Monique watched her girlfriend happily. All her insecurities had been falling away ever since Kim had appeared in that bakery, back from her mission, and Monique was beginning to feel silly that she would ever have entertained the idea of Kim leaving her for Ron. Steve and Paul had tried to talk sense into her, after all, but she was too wrapped up in her worries, her jelling – whatever it was – to really listen to them. Not to mention that even that Hank Perkins character had been surprisingly insightful.

Still, although her insecurities were gone, Monique still felt the nagging sense of guilt that had plagued her all weekend. She was in a good mood, but the very fact that she was in a good mood seemed to irritate that buried guilt. Monique couldn't help asking herself if she was happy because things hadn't worked out between Kim and Ron. She supposed she _was_ happy that they hadn't gotten together, even though it was a ridiculous worry to begin with, but she wasn't so happy that they were still estranged from each other.

Kim had told her a little about what happened over the course of the mission before they went to sleep the other night. Monique knew that Kim still cared for Ron, and the very fact that Ron had gone on a mission with her showed that he cared for her as well. She wished the two of them could be friends again, even if maybe it wouldn't be quite the same as before. It would make Kim even happier, and Monique would enjoy seeing him around again. She could imagine his enthusiasm at seeing Steel Toe and Pain King in the ring, trying out their new Mexican wrestling-inspired outfits and moves, enjoying a little Bueno Nacho with Ned after the match.

It was just too bad that reality was more complicated than that.

Kim had just finished her breakfast when her cell phone rang.

"Who is it?" asked Monique, wondering if Kim's hesitancy in answering meant that Ron was calling.

"I don't recognize the number," Kim said as she decided to take the call anyway. "Hello?"

"Hello, Kim. This is Betty Director."

"Oh, hey."

"You weren't answering your Kimmunicator, so I found your cell number."

"Yeah, I didn't really feel like talking about the mission, and I knew you or Wade would be on my case about how I left Shego's island in such a hurry. And, by the way, I'm not interested in helping Drakken anymore."

"That's not why I called."

"Oh? What is it, then?"

"I was hoping you would come meet with me at the Upperton Global Justice headquarters."

"I don't think I'm interested in another mission right now."

"No missions. At least not right now. I just wanted to talk."

Kim sighed as she paced the living room.

"Alright, fine. What, you wanted to meet now?"

"If that's alright with you."

"That's fine," said Kim. "I'll be there in a little while."

Monique watched, still eating the last couple bites of her breakfast, as Kim pocketed her cell phone and gave an apologetic look that was almost overpowering in its cuteness.

"Mon, I know it sucks that I have to go again, but hopefully this won't be a big deal. And I promise I won't be going on another mission. We'll hang out later, okay?"

"No prob," said Monique. "You go enjoy yourself."

Kim scoffed as she went out the door. Monique got the impression that she was not anticipating an enjoyable meeting with Dr. Director, but then, it wasn't like Kim worked for Global Justice. She was just doing Wade and Global Justice a favor by going on that mission in the first place, thought Monique – they should be grateful. Whatever Dr. Director had to say, Monique didn't mind her girlfriend going away for a little while. It was Monday, and she would be going to a couple of her classes later, after all.

Monique frowned as she thought of classes. Kim had classes too. Had she asked to have time off if her mission went over the weekend? She didn't remember Kim saying anything about it. But then, her girlfriend was far too responsible to be missing a whole day of classes. Monique shrugged as she turned on the kitchen sink and began to clean her plates, listening to the sound of the faucet water mixing with the familiar revving of the Sloth's engines as Kim pulled out of the parking lot outside.

XX

"Possible?"

Steve Barkin stared out over his economics class. He had just been about to start, and he didn't normally take roll – he had gotten tired of student complaints that it wasn't high school – but not seeing that familiar red hair had thrown him off. This was the first time Kim had been late to his class, and he had been looking forward to her opinions on the chapter they would be going over. Kim Possible always had interesting insights, even if she was far too compassionate and mushy towards the have-nots for his taste.

"Kim Possible?"

A boy towards the back of the class coughed and raised his hand nervously.

"What is it?" Steve growled.

"I think I saw Possible earlier," said the boy. "She was all, like, leaving campus and stuff, sir."

The boy let down his hand and took a big bite out of the cupcake he had on his desk while Steve frowned at the sight. He was getting a little tired of his students bringing in those cupcakes all the time, from whatever that new place downtown was. He always thought cupcakes were overrated, anyway. Too much frosting, too dainty. Although he'd make an exception if it was a cupcake that Stoppable baked.

"Alright," he said as he turned to the blackboard. "Everyone turn to this week's chapter and BE QUIET!"

As he wrote a few keywords on the blackboard, Steve wondered if Possible was back on track with her missions. Even if it interfered with her course work, Steve couldn't help but feel a little excitement by proxy at the idea. He would defeat the great villain of economic ignorance over the next hour and a half, while Possible would defeat... well... some ridiculous looking deviant in a circus costume, probably.

It was the way things should be.


	13. Slam Tilt

**Slam Tilt**

XX

Thoughts swirled in a hazy amalgam as Shego floated, lost in her own mind. She saw a lot of blue, a lot of green, heard the occasional shattered fragment of sound. She knew she was thinking of Drakken, at least in some distant, vague way. A flash of red, black, and cornflower blond seemed to be an approximation of Ron Stoppable.

A darker, bulkier impression sent a streak of anger coursing through Shego's haze. It was Midas.

Shego was partly conscious, and she concentrated as hard as she could, trying to put the pieces together. She could tell she was under the influence of some kind of drug. Flashes of pink frosting, ridged paper: the cupcakes. Her surroundings began to organize themselves around her, and she saw that she was gaining consciousness in a small room. Not just any room; one of her control room prison cells, in which she had locked up Kim and Ron earlier.

As her senses pulled themselves into their normal clarity, Shego couldn't help but smile. Midas was even stupider than she thought. And, think of the devil, there he was. Sitting in her throne in the center of the room and looking over at her with a smug look. Soon she would wipe that smug look off his face.

"Looks like you're all coming back," said Midas as he rose from his seat and approached the cell.

Shego looked around her; Bonnie, Junior, Senior, and Ron were also locked into the cell with her. It was a little cramped. "Drugged the cupcakes?" she asked.

"That's right. I knew you'd go for the cupcakes when you came back from your little night out on the town with that dork there. You've been eating so many of those things in the past few weeks, I don't know how you keep your figure. Although, to be honest, you're looking a little pudgy around the waist there."

It took all of Shego's willpower to ignore the comment.

"We were here in the control room, waiting for your return so we could capture you," said Midas as he motioned to the other henchmen in the room, who were gathering to look at their captives. He motioned to Bonnie and the Seniors. "But these people showed up first."

Senior nodded cordially from behind the bars. "I am Señor Senior Senior. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Whatever. We were trying to decide what to do about their unexpected arrival when you showed up in your hovercraft with Kim Possible's sidekick and started fighting them. After which you all did me a favor and ate the cupcakes. Thanks."

"So what's the deal?" asked Shego. "Tired of being a henchman? Decided supervillainy looked like it'd be fun to try out for a change of pace?"

Midas looked a little miffed. Although Shego was right, something about the way she said it made it sound mundane, predictable. She was not paying the proper amount of respect to his brilliant double cross.

"Well, yeah. That's basically it."

"And what makes you think you're gonna be a better supervillain than I was?"

Midas laughed raucously. A few of the other henchmen laughed with him, but Shego noticed that they were much more hesitant. Whether it was because they weren't as loyal to Midas as he thought, or because they were still scared of her, she couldn't tell. If it was the latter, however, they were smarter than Midas was.

"You barely even tried," said Midas. "You set up this lair, you stole a few things here and there, but you never made any attempt to take over the world. You never built any super weapons or robot armies or Molecular Magnetizers – your heart was never in it!"

"Molecular whatsits?"

"I don't know, it's just an example I made up," said Midas as he waved his hand impatiently. "The point is, you were never cut out for supervillainy, Shego. I don't know if you remember when we first met, but every single massage session I had with you, it was Drakken this, Drakken that. 'I can do this better than Drakken, that mullet-haired moron wouldn't know evil if it smacked him in the face!' you'd say. I could barely keep a hot rock balanced on your back without you sitting up and knocking it off, going into another tirade. 'Mark my words Midas, any day now, I'm tearing up my contract with that fool and getting into the solo business!' Do you remember?"

"Wow," laughed Ron, "his impression of you isn't too shabby, Shego!"

Ron's comment went straight past Shego. She remembered. She remembered everything Midas said.

What was more, she knew that she could be a good supervillain if she really tried. She could picture it, clear as day: armies of henchmen marching in green and black uniforms; re-education centers where she would send anyone who did not acknowledge her greatness; a gigantic tower in which she gripped the reins of her empire with an iron fist. Middleton would be renamed. Shegoton, maybe. No, that was lame, she'd have to think of something else. But she would no longer be Shego; she would be the Supreme One. It was almost as if that world was real. Really hers, existing in some alternate, parallel timeline she could only glimpse in her imagination.

Reality, however, had turned out differently.

Things had all started to change after she and Drakken had saved the world with Kim Possible and the buffoon. Life had a way of piling up on her, of chipping steadily away at that self-image Shego had built up in her mind. The abortive semi-relationship with Drakken that crashed and burned before it would lift off; the way Drakken had so quickly embraced a life of straight-laced entrepreneurship, a life lamely lacking in lawlessness; and finally, Shego's attempt to try out supervillainy, which somehow ended up more hollow, more of a hassle, than she had ever expected in her days as right hand woman to Doctor D. It had all changed her.

Most disturbing of all was that, while she had trouble admitting it even to herself, saving the world had been sort of fun. Doing it had planted a seed of doubt in Shego's mind. Doubt that she was as sure of her own personality and interests as she had thought when she left Team Go for a life of villainy. Not that she would ever join those chumps again.

Midas watched her triumphantly, knowing that his point had hit home. Shego stepped up to the cell bars. It was time to put him in his place.

"Alright," she said. "You're sort of right. Even if I could be a great supervillain, it's really not my thing. Your mistake is in thinking that _you_ have a snowball's chance in hell at topping me in anything."

"Big words from a woman behind bars," said Midas.

"Sweetie? Do you know what you forgot about this prison cell?"

Midas thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"I'm the one who designed it. Along with the rest of this lair, you _idiot!_"

Several henchmen began backing away as Midas' triumphant smile faded into confusion. Shego pressed her face against the bars on the far right side of the prison, as close to the locking mechanism outside the door as she could.

"Open!" she shouted.

_Shego voice recognition confirmed_, echoed a voice from over the control room. _Prison bars retracting._

Shego stepped through the open prison door and cracked her knuckles before lighting them up. The skin tone of Midas' face lightened by several shades in a matter of seconds, but he snapped his fingers at his henchmen, who were beginning to take a few steps backwards.

"They're outnumbered at least four to one," said Midas. "And she's engorged with cupcakes!"

Shego roared as she rushed at Midas, flaming fists flying in an arc towards his face. Midas dodged the slashes and began fighting back, but Shego was completely confident in her superiority. He had learned a few things from her, to be sure, but even against Junior, she didn't think Midas would have the edge. As she pummeled Midas unrelentingly with her fiery fists and pushed him back into the control room, Shego knew that beating up her backstabbing ex would be a cathartic experience.

"I got these!" shouted Ron as he engaged a trio of henchmen in combat.

"I have got these as well!" shouted Junior as he attacked another group.

Midas was holding up better than she had expected, but Shego was still able to risk an occasional glance at the other fights raging in the room. Ron was fighting some of her mutinous henchmen; did that mean he was on her side now? Which side was she even on, for that matter? A jarring punch from Midas forced Shego to focus her attention back on the fight, although she was surprised to notice that even Señor Senior Senior looked like he was holding his own against a burly henchman.

"Duck, Ron Stoppable!"

Ron complied with Junior's shout and ducked just in time for Junior to send a henchman flying over his back with a well placed kick. Ron watched the man roll off over the floor and gave Junior a high five before the two of them went after another opponent. Junior noticed another henchman running towards him – one with even more upper body muscle tone than he did, if that was possible – but just before his enemy reached him, Junior joined hands with his girlfriend and clotheslined the man in mid-attack.

"Nice one, Bon Bon!"

"Thanks sweetie," said Bonnie as she gave another henchman a vicious claw with her fingernails. The man looked down at his torn uniform and saw five bloody scratch marks on his chest. _This manicure _was_ worth every penny_, Bonnie thought in amazement as the man screeched and ran away.

Shego was on the verge of subduing Midas when several more henchmen joined in the fight against her. She blocked punch after punch, kick after kick. One flew back and smashed into a mainframe after taking one of her spinning kicks to the stomach, a shower of sparks raining down on his remaining companions. Another pair of henchmen fell to the ground after Shego managed to use the first one's head as a mallet against the other one. She scoffed as Midas' backup disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. Fighting her former goons made it even more clear that she was not cut out to be a supervillain; she had hired these people for their sculpted abs and easiness on the eyes, but she really hadn't taken the time to train them properly. It was almost embarrassing.

"This is my island now, Shego!" yelled Midas as his attacks became more erratic. He was tiring rapidly, and he knew it.

"You wouldn't even be a henchman if I hadn't hired you," said Shego as she swung streams of plasma at her foe. Midas fell back further, his uniform singed and his energy flagging. "You think you can run this island? You think you can take me? You should go back to massage therapy."

"So you can turn into some kind of world saving hero with Ron Stoppable?" taunted Midas. "We all know what happened between him and Kim Possible, and you're filling in for the role. Hanging out with her sidekick all night? Pathetic. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were one of the good guys!"

Shego snarled and redoubled her attacks. Midas took one, two, three punches as he stumbled back to the corner of the control room beside the arcade machines. The other henchmen had long since realized that there was no way they could compete against Shego, especially when she had backup to distract them, and they were spending their time fighting halfheartedly against Ron, Bonnie, and the Seniors, waiting for the fight to be over. Midas was alone. As he reached a wall, gasping for breath, Shego grabbed him by the arm.

"Good?" said Shego as she pulled Midas towards her and flipped him over her back. Midas crashed into the top of a pinball machine, which collapsed in a sickening crunch of wood, plastic, and glass.

"Too good for you, maybe."

The pinball machine's crushed remains joined Midas in a groan as they settled to the floor. A silver ball from the machine rolled away into the control room. The sounds of fighting trailed off as the other henchmen slowed down, noticing one by one that their leader was down for the count.

_Game over_, gargled the machine. _ Please insert coin to continue!_

XX

Although Kim knew the location of the Upperton Global Justice branch, she had never been there before. She and Ron had always gone to the Middleton facilities while they still went on missions together, and even on the handful of times Kim met with Global Justice afterwards, she had always met with Dr. Director in Middleton. She reached the street where she expected the Upperton branch to be; it was a street like any other, and Kim saw no sign of clandestine spy agencies among any of the shops and small businesses lining the road. But then, why would she?

Kim looked down at the sidewalk and noticed an unusual crack in the concrete, curving around and meeting itself in a circle a few paces away from her. Global Justice had a certain fondness for underground facilities. She smiled as she positioned herself in the center of the circle and looked at her watch. A little later than she had meant to arrive – downtown parking problems, as usual - but hopefully Dr. Director was not in a huge hurry to talk to her. Kim tapped her foot in the circle as she waited.

"Alright," she said aloud to no one in particular. "Beam me down, Scotty."

"Kim Possible!"

Ki m looked up at the sound of the greeting and saw a woman with a patch over one eye, standing in the open door of a nondescript shop a few yards away from her.

"Dr. Director? What are you doing there?"

"Come in, please."

Kim followed the director into the building, which had a sign over the front door that read 'Uncle Ollie's Used Undergarments.' She wrinkled her nose as she entered the shop, and Dr. Director took a reflexive glance around the sidewalk outside before closing the door behind them.

"Welcome to Global Justice's Upperton office," said Dr. Director.

"What's with the sign?"

"Keeps people from coming in and bothering us."

Kim grunted in reply. She supposed it worked well enough as a cover.

"Please, come into the back office."

Kim and Dr. Director entered a back room behind the one-room shop itself. The office was a little musty and worn-looking, containing a scuffed wooden desk and chair, along with a threadbare love seat along the wall. The wallpaper was faded and decorated with what looked like pastel flowers, and Kim noticed several framed photographs of cats hanging along the wall, as well as some feline figurines on the desk.

Dr. Director approached what looked like a closet door and opened it. It was a closet, but it was empty. She motioned for Kim to join her inside. Kim entered the closet, although there was barely enough room for the two of them, and felt herself scrunched against the wall as Dr. Director closed the door and looked up at a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Alpha Tango Kickball Marmot," she spoke.

_Access granted_, murmured the light bulb with a flicker of electricity.

Kim felt her stomach drop along with the floor as the utility closet suddenly descended into the ground. _Now this is more like a Global Justice facility_, Kim thought. Before more than a couple of seconds had passed, however, the closet elevator came to a halt and the door opened again, revealing the same office they had been in.

"Wait, what?"

"This is our actual office," said Dr. Director. "Located right beneath the fake duplicate on the ground floor."

"What, they look exactly the same?"

"That's correct."

Dr. Director left the closet and took a seat behind the desk, motioning to the nearby love seat, where Kim took a seat. She looked around; the office was indeed the same as the one upstairs. Furniture that looked like it had seen better days, pictures of cats along the wall, a few ceramic kitten figurines carefully arranged on the desk in front of Dr. Director.

"What's with the lame décor?" she asked.

"Those are Betsy's things," said Dr. Director as she looked disdainfully at the cat-themed accessories and tacky wallpaper to which Kim was referring. "She is the acting subdirector of the Upperton offices, but she's out sick, and I offered to cover her shift."

"Subdirector? So she's below you?"

"That is correct," snapped Dr. Director, a little testily. Kim sensed there was some kind of rivalry between her and Bonnie. "You know," she said, "I was expecting a little more from the Upperton branch."

"Such as?"

"I don't know. A laboratory, control center, training area, things like that. Like in Middleton!"

"We don't have the finances to set up a facility like the one we have at Middleton for every single city in the world," said Dr. Director, her testy tone rising. "We are _Global_ Justice, after all. Being global isn't cheap. What are we, magic?"

"Okay, okay," said Kim. "Point taken, sheesh. So what did you want to talk about with me?"

"The mission."

Kim grimaced at Dr. Director's comment. She had expected it to be something about the mission, but she still didn't feel like getting a lecture from Dr. Director about quitting the mission so abruptly.

"Look," she said, "I know we didn't really figure out what Drakken might be up to, but honestly, I get the impression it's probably not much. And I didn't see anything too fishy with either Shego or the Seniors – it seems to me like all of them have been getting lazy since I was in high school."

"That is true," Dr. Director replied. "Dementor is still fairly active, but Drakken, Shego, and the Seniors began to fall off of our radar soon after you quit doing missions, and other supervillains have been making a name for themselves since then. And Ron has been scoping out Shego's island for us in a little more detail, so we had no problem with you leaving the mission early."

"Oh? I figured he got Wade to give him a ride out of there as soon as I left. How long did he stay?"

"He's still there, as far as I know," said Dr. Director as Kim raised an eyebrow in surprise. "But that not why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to talk to you about missions in general. Specifically, the fact that you haven't been doing them anymore. It is true that we sent on you on this mission to recover Drakken's stolen merchandise so you could investigate this new cupcake business of his, as well as to do some reconnaissance on whoever was stealing from him, but that wasn't actually the main reason I wanted you to go."

Kim listened silently. She had a vague idea of where Dr. Director was going.

"I sent you on the mission with Ron because – well, because I wanted you to go on a mission with Ron."

"Why?"

"I know the two of you haven't been close recently, but I was hoping that this mission might get the two of you closer, perhaps going on missions again. Together."

"You haven't called me or beeped me in months," said Kim. "Why do you need me now?"

"Global Justice has been holding up without you, but to be quite honest, there is no one in our organization who can match your particular set of skills and expertise when it comes to fighting supervillains. People like Will Du are talented and loyal, don't get me wrong, but they lack your creativity and independent spirit. We need people who are willing to work with us, who are on our side, but who are outside the system. People like you and Ron.

"I know you haven't been interested in going on missions ever since the two of you broke up, and I thought it would be best to give you some time to get your priorities in order and get some distance from what happened. I have waited, and now I feel that it is time to get you back into the world saving business. Which was a tricky proposition, because that involves you and Ron being together, at least in a professional capacity."

Dr. Director's words sent a surge of pride coursing through Kim. Not the good kind of pride, but the indignant, selfish pride that had sometimes caused her problems in the past. She was aware of that even as she felt herself become defensive, but she couldn't help but protest against Dr. Director's insinuation that she could not do the missions alone.

"You're forgetting one of our meetings long ago," said Dr. Director. Kim had said nothing, but she could tell what the young woman was thinking. Dr. Director was well aware of not only Kim's virtues, but her failings. Global Justice did have a psychological profile on Kim Possible – and Ron Stoppable as well – but she had gotten enough of an impression of Kim's personality just by working with her.

"Do you remember the Ron Factor?"

Kim stared for a moment, and finally nodded.

"Ron is an essential part of your team. He adds an element of uncertainty to things when the two of you are working together; he keeps you alert and on your toes. He keeps your enemies on their toes, for that matter – at the very least, his incessant comments and non sequiturs are a distraction for them. Ron thinks about things in a different way than you do, and he offers a different perspective on your missions, even if his combat skills do not match your own. Although Global Justice believes he could improve greatly with those mystical powers, if he took them more seriously."

Kim nodded reluctantly. She knew that Dr. Director was right.

"I think those last few missions of yours before you quit to focus on college were a solid demonstration of the importance of the Ron Factor. The few where you worked with us after breaking up with Ron Stoppable, before you gave up going on missions entirely. Do you remember your last mission, against Duff Killigan?"

Kim nodded again, the unpleasant memory of that day coming back to her.

"You were getting complacent. Your game was off, and it was obvious that something was out of balance – and Duff Killigan is not one of your most dangerous opponents, Kim. You would have been in serious trouble if we had not gotten there to back you up. We both know the missing ingredient from that mission."

"Okay, but I felt like something was out of balance on this last mission, too," pointed out Kim. "And Ron was with me this time."

Dr. Director laughed. "Well, of course. You were out of practice, and things are bound to be awkward between you and Ron at first. But it was a bit of a strange mission to begin with, after all – you don't normally help one of your opponents, so that must have thrown you off. Not to mention that the two of you were missing the Rufus Factor," said Dr. Director thoughtfully. "I wonder why the mole rat didn't tag along."

Kim shrugged. She had been a little disappointed at not seeing Rufus again, although as Ron's pet, perhaps the naked mole rat disliked her on principle ever since the breakup. The thought put her in a melancholy mood.

"How do you know I even _want_ to go on missions anymore?" she said.

"Come on, Kim. It was a part of your life for years. You were helping people long before you were even saving the world – it's in your blood. You're telling me it was just a coincidence that you quit doing something you were passionate about for years at the same time you broke up with Ron? You just happened to decide you wanted to shift your interests at _that_ particular time in your life?"

"I'm happy with Monique," said Kim. "People can change."

"Yes, they can," said Dr. Director. "But did you?"

Kim tapped her fingers on the table, at a loss for an answer.

"You can be happy with Monique and return to your missions at the same time, Kim. Just because you've accepted something new into your life doesn't mean you have to leave behind the old. I'm not saying it's easy, but I think you loved those missions, and even if you're happy now, you'd be happier with them back in your life. You'd be happier with Ron back in your life, too. And you can have all of those things if you make an effort, which would work out quite nicely for me as well."

Dr. Director leaned forward, her voice lowered even though no one else is in the room. "To be honest, Kim, I get a little tired of relying on subordinates like Will Du all the time. It would be nice to work with you more often."

Kim felt like she had been fighting against Dr. Director's arguments, and yet she wondered if she was fighting against herself. Although she resisted, she knew that Dr. Director was right.

"Even if I _did_ want to go on missions again," said Kim, "all of this depends on Ron. I was still willing to be friends with him after we ended our relationship, but he wasn't interested. He was the one who cut things off completely. After this last mission, I doubt he'll be as willing to listen to your arguments as I am."

Dr. Director nodded as she sat back in her chair. Perhaps Kim Possible had a point; perhaps she was talking to the wrong person, as she had been fairly confident that Kim would return to the missions as long as she got a push in the right direction. Ron Stoppable, however, was less certain.

The boy's unique contribution to Team Possible was the same thing that made him so hard to gauge. He was more erratic, unpredictable. Maybe more attached to Kim Possible than she was to him – at least that was an impression Dr. Director had picked up from being around the two of them. And although he had a strong moral compass, he was a little less passionate than Kim Possible when it came to putting himself in danger and taking risks for the sake of upholding justice and fighting evil. Betty knew that a large part of Ron's interest in the missions was centered on Kim's involvement in them.

In the end, it really did come down to the Ron Factor.

XX

Sardines, thought Shego. They look just like sardines.

Midas and the henchmen, who had been fighting against Shego and her unexpected new allies minutes ago, were now stuffed into the handful of prison cells lining the wall of her control room. Midas himself was crowded into the center cell with a number of other prisoners. It was the same cell where almost everyone in the room had now spent some time over the course of the last couple days. His face pressed against the bars as a mass of mutinous henchmen pushed into him from behind. Shego watched him with a satisfied smirk as Ron, Bonnie, and the Seniors stood around her.

"What am I going to do with all of you?" she asked.

Midas glared at his ex-girlfriend and captor through the cage bars. "You won't do anything if you know what's good for you. Haven't you read the Henchmen's Rights Act of 2001? Our contract requires a certain standard of treatment even in case of termination. Throwing us into a shark pit, dropping us from your hovercraft, or anything else you might be planning is a violation of those standards."

"Maybe I'll just ignore the contract," said Shego. "I'm evil, remember?"

Midas scoffed. "Yeah right. Besides, you ignore the contract, you face legal consequences."

Ron scratched his head at the interchange. "Legal consequences? Isn't everything you guys do kind of outside the law by definition?"

"Villain lawyers," explained Shego. "Pretty much indistinguishable from regular lawyers, actually."

Ron whistled. The world of supervillains was much more complicated than he expected. He didn't understand what villain lawyers could do when they were dealing with people who were perfectly willing to flout any kind of law and vaporize their opponents, but then, he wasn't an expert on the subject.

"Maybe after I take care of you guys, I'll feed your lawyers to the sharks too," said Shego as she walked by the cell in which Midas was trapped and ran her fingers provocatively over the bars. "I think cannibalism is a little icky, to be honest, but it _would_ kill two birds with one stone."

Señor Senior Senior leaned close to her ear and spoke in a whisper. "Excuse me, but do you actually have a shark pool in this lair? I must tell you I tried to acquire one of my own, but the regulations were just too much; we settled on koi instead. However did you achieve such a wonderful lair accessory?"

Shego shushed him impatiently. She had no shark pit, but they were on an island in the middle of the ocean. It wasn't that hard to find a few sharks. And the sharks were beside the point anyway. It wasn't the specifics of the threat, but its substance that mattered, and judging by the clammy pallor of Midas' face, as well as the drop of sweat that was traveling slowly down his forehead, Shego could tell she was getting to him.

"Look, maybe getting villain law into this is unnecessary," said Midas. "I'm sure we can just talk this out. Okay, so I betrayed you and tried to usurp your position, but is that such a big deal? What about our history, Shego? Think about all the good times we had together in the past – remember that night in the hot tub? Remember the bubble jets?"

Bonnie and Senior grimaced at the comment, while Ron and Junior scratched their heads in confusion. Shego glared. If Midas was trying to get on her good side – a side which she was still loathe to admit she even possessed – playing the role of whiny ex-boyfriend was not going to work. And those bubble jets had turned out to be highly uncomfortable, anyway. Midas clearly had a selective memory.

"I don't know why you even want this island," said Midas, taking a cue from Shego's expression that his current tack was not going anywhere he wanted to be going. "It's been obvious for a while that you aren't into this. The supervillain thing, running a lair, managing us. Your heart isn't in it – we were doing you a favor, you know. I mean, what are you going to do? You're really just going keep sitting around and stealing cupcakes in between partying and drinking in your lounge? That's your plan for the future?"

Shego was about to shove an arm through the cell bars and grab Midas by the neck in her fiery clutches, but she stopped in mid-stride. Midas stood back in fear for a moment as Shego stared. Her ex boyfriend's words rang in her mind like the clang of a bell. The man was infuriating. He had betrayed her, tried to take what was hers.

And yet he was completely right.

Shego looked around the control room in wonder. She looked the snazzy throne she had made for herself, that seat in which she had once entertained idle thoughts of world domination. It was her island, her not-so-secret supervillain lair, and yet it was not hers. Not really. She was a stranger, standing in someone else's home. Intruding. Whether she had a home or not, Shego didn't know – but this was not it. Shego had been nursing her doubts for a long time, but it was only this weekend that had brought those doubts crashing out from the thicket of her subconscious and into the harsh light of day.

Her pathetic fixation on Drakken and his little cupcakes. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, crashing down the remains of her false life. And now, her ex-boyfriend and ex-subordinate. A complete idiot who had just put the last puzzle piece into place.

Shego looked down at the ground as a bright flash of something caught her eye. It was the pinball that had rolled away from the smashed machine. She picked it up and looked it over. The machine had been an antique – a _Captain Constellation_ model she had stolen long ago from a bar in Go City while inebriated, in fact. But she didn't mind it being destroyed so much. None of Shego's games were really making her happy anymore.

"You're right."

Midas watched Shego nervously through the prison bars.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're right," she said. "What am I going to do with this place?"

Shego laughed. It was amazing how things could become so clear so quickly.

"You can have this place," she told Midas. "I've got villain insurance anyway, and I'm tired of this crap. Good luck doing anything with it!"

Shego turned around and began to leave the control room.

"Wait! What about letting us out?"

"I didn't say anything about letting you out!"

Ron gaped at Shego for a moment as she left the room, and then exchanged looks with Bonnie and the Seniors, who seemed equally bewildered. It wasn't exactly a decision he had been expecting from Shego, and he was just as unaware of the existence of villain's insurance as he was of villain lawyers. He had been learning a lot lately. As Shego left the control room, Ron gave Midas a helpless shrug before running to join her.


	14. Out With the Old and In With the Older

**Out With the Old and In With the Older**

XX

"Thank you for your hospitality," said Señor Senior Senior with a polite nod as he got onto the yacht they had nestled amongst Shego's jet skis upon arriving at the island. "I am sure we shall call upon you to join us at our own island soon, and I hope you will give us the pleasure of your company."

"Yeah," said Shego. "Just don't be surprised if I show up attacking you for the first few minutes. It seems to be etiquette for you guys, right?"

Senior laughed good-naturedly. "I am still amazed that you would choose to give your island to an old flame and a group of your mutinous henchmen. I would be happy to take it from you instead."

"Feel free to take it over if you want," said Shego. "I think you'd need more help than just the three of you, as lame as those goons down there were. Midas isn't too bad at the martial arts stuff, really. He just stands no chance against his teacher. But you're right, it was probably a dumb move for me to try to keep him around after we broke up in the first place. I'm sure Ron here knows all about what happens when you try to keep things going with an ex," she said with a laugh.

Ron caught Shego's comment and realized that their situations were similar. Maybe he had been silly in hoping that things could be repaired between Kim and himself, especially with their complicated history together.

And yet, Ron wondered, was it really the same? It wasn't like Shego had anything in common with Midas; she had said so herself. He was around for massages and eye candy. And while Kim was certainly eye candy – and good at massages, on the couple of occasions Ron remembered getting them from her – she was also a good friend. Someone he could talk to, someone he had grown up with. Someone who complemented him in many ways. Someone he would always care about, even if things were unrepairable between them. None of those things seemed to apply to whatever relationship Shego and Midas had enjoyed. Ron found himself more confused than ever.

.Senior boarded the yacht as his son took Shego's hand and gave it a kiss. His son came forward and took Shego's hand in his own. "I shall look forward to seeing you again," Junior told his old teacher. "Perhaps we can practice some of our moves together."

Shego thought it might have been a double entendre, but Junior's earnest smile told her it was not. She wondered if he was even capable of more than one entendre at a time. As he boarded the yacht with his father, Bonnie – last in line to board – gave Shego's hand a brusque shake after raising an eyebrow at her fiancée.

"Uh, nice to meet you," she said before turning to Ron. "Nice to see you a second time, I guess. Are you gonna tell Kim I've been dabbling in the supervillainy?"

Ron scratched his head. Bonnie had certainly developed some martial arts skills since he last saw her, and she seemed to be in league with the Seniors now. Not just as a potential daughter-in-law, but as a fellow devotee of villainy. It was surprising. And yet, when Ron thought about it, maybe not really that surprising.

"I guess I'll have to tell her, yeah," said Ron. "That is kind of our thing. I mean, _her_ thing," he corrected himself.

"Hmm. I guess maybe me and K will be competing on a whole new level before too long, seeing as you two are back on your missions together. Tell her I said hi!"

Ron realized that Bonnie had not witnessed the abrupt and nasty ending to his mission with Kim when she left Shego's island in a huff. He was about to correct her, but decided it wasn't worth the effort, and Bonnie was already on the yacht anyway. The boat's three passengers waved as the yacht began to pull out of Shego's enclosed dock area and into the open ocean. Senior's wave was genuine. Junior leaned out over the ship's prow, waving theatrically. Bonnie's wave was dripping with forced politeness, and ended after a few seconds as she retreated into the hold.

As the yacht left the island, Ron stared at it and remembered his night with Shego. He turned to her and felt a burst of mischievousness as he gave her a big wink and a grin. Shego was confused for a moment, but she followed his gaze back to the boat and gave a short laugh. Maybe the two of them could sneak onto the Senior's yacht sometime and -

Shego stopped her laugh abruptly when she realized what she had been forgetting.

"You already called Wade for a ride?" she said. "Cause I'm not carting you around on the hovercraft."

"Yep," said Ron. "He'll be here pretty soon."

"Alright – I needed to talk to you about something before then."

"What's that?"

Shego led Ron through her lair as they left the dock area. They passed through hallways, through the lounge area which still wasn't cleaned up. Shego's hovercraft was parked outside in the courtyard, stuffed with the few personal possessions she actually cared about. Most of the material things in Shego's life were disposable, and they could be left on the island with her ungrateful henchmen.

"Look," she said as they left the front of the complex and into the open air. "I'll admit, you're less of a buffoon than I expected, and that Mystical Monkey Power of yours is pretty impressive. You know, there's this secret ninja school in Japan you should really think about checking out-"

"Yamanouchi."

"Yeah. You already know about it?"

"I'm like their chosen one."

Shego whistled. Yet another unexpected layer to Ron Stoppable. But she was getting off track.

"The point is, I'm not sure what you're expecting, but whatever happened between us this weekend was just this weekend. Got it? I'm not saying it hasn't been fun, and you weren't half bad in the sack, but we just wouldn't work together. I might not be a supervillain, but I'm no white bread goody goody like Kim Possible either. Not to mention that you're a little too immature for me. No offense."

Ron was immediately offended. Still, he found it hard to argue with most of her points. Shego was very different than he was. He did get the impression that she was not as one-dimensional as he had once thought, not to mention that she seemed to be changing from the old Shego, even over the course of one weekend. But the fact remained: it was Shego. The bite to Drakken's bark, the woman who had tried to kill Kim and himself on past occasions. Beautiful, for sure – a forbidden fruit – but one which could be poisonous if Ron took a big juicy bite.

It was the end of her comment that offended Ron, however. That he was immature. Childish. Kim had said the same thing about him before she left the island, and others had told him the same thing before. Martin Smarty had cited his immaturity as a reason he was turned down for the Smarty Mart positions he had applied for. Maybe, Ron thought, he really _was_ childish and immature. Unable to move on from the past, unable to handle any real change in his life without avoiding it, or – if it was forced upon him – denying all responsibility for it. It would go far in explaining why the last couple of years had been kind of a drag.

Kim had told Shego the same thing, actually. Just before she had left the island, she had told the two of them they were both childish. And based on Shego's rants about Drakken and her past while the two of them had been out partying over the weekend, Ron got the feeling that she had just as much trouble getting over things as he did. Maybe Shego was being a little hypocritical by telling him he was too immature for her.

Ron looked up at the sky as the sound of beating rotors thumped faintly in the air. A large helicopter began to approach from out over the ocean. Ron wasn't sure if it was Global Justice or not, but it was his ride, and it would be landing in the field in front of the hangar attached to Shego's lair complex. Wade had told him the helicopter would take them to the mainland, at which point they had a jet waiting that would take them back to Middleton in no time. The helicopter drew closer, and Ron looked over at Shego, who seemed to be getting ready to say goodbye.

As he wondered what Shego was going to do with herself now that she was leaving the island, an idea flashed in his mind like lightning. All those cupcakes she had been stealing from Drakken. Vindictiveness, maybe – but Kim had also said she wanted attention. Attention from Drakken in particular. Maybe Ron could do her a favor. He grabbed Shego's hand and pulled her towards the hangar as the helicopter drew closer.

"Um, what are you doing, dork?"

"You're coming with me."

Shego's initial reaction was to slash Ron in a burst of plasma for grabbing her with no warning and ordering her around, but his tone didn't seem rude. It was just matter-of-fact. She felt a glimmer of interest in whatever the dork could be thinking to risk enraging her with such an order.

"I need my hovercraft and my stuff," she said. "I'm not leaving it here for Midas."

"Okay – can't you just follow along behind the jet then?"

"That's a lot to ask when I don't even know where you're trying to get me to go."

"Where else were you going? Do you have other plans?"

Shego frowned and watched as Ron approached the helicopter, which was now touching down to the ground in a cloud of dust and plant debris. She had no other plans – he had her on that point.. As Ron looked back and gestured insistently towards the rendezvous point in front of the hangar, she felt her reluctance melting away. The boy had given her a few surprises already. Maybe she would stick around just a bit longer and see what else he had in mind.

XX

Monique looked over the supposedly new fashions in the fashion boutique's display window. They were a little dated despite the sign's promise – not quite what Monique would have chosen to display - but they weren't bad at all. She and Kim had shopped there on occasion, and there was something inviting about the shop's cozy, historic appearance, nestled between larger, more modern buildings in downtown Upperton. Shops like these did not always have the consistent quality of Club Banana's merchandise, but you could find some real gems in the rough if you looked. And now that her classes for the day were over, she could look with her girlfriend as long as she wanted.

The overhead bell gave a jingle as Monique opened the door and saw Kim standing near the back, holding a fuzzy cream shirt over herself that clearly did not work. Fortunately, Monique had arrived just in time to prevent disaster. She rushed into the shop and tore the shirt from Kim's hands.

"Girl, what are you thinking? F.F.P. Alert!"

"Oh come on," said Kim. "Is cream such a faux pas? I have another shirt with this color."

"Yeah, but it ain't the cream, it's the fuzzy. This thing would make you look like a baby chicken!"

Kim gave it another inspection and decided Monique was right. It was a good thing she had Monique to join her and go shopping after she was finished with her meeting with Dr. Director – fashion saves were just one of the benefits of going out with Monique.

"Alright, then what do you suggest? I feel like something new."

"How about a skirt?"

"I prefer pants."

Monique rolled her eyes. Kim could be a little stubborn about her outfits sometimes. So she wanted something new, but not that new. S_o demanding_, thought Monique as she flipped through the racks of clothing to find that special outfit that screamed Kim's name at her. _But whatever Kim wants, Kim gets!_

"This is the perfect way to wind down after some sucky classes," said Monique. "I'm glad you called me over here."

Kim froze in horror at Monique's comment. Classes!

"What is it, baby?"

"My classes! My economics class with Mr. Barkin! I forgot all about it!"

Monique felt a twinge of guilt at realizing that she had almost called Kim before she left for the Global Justice meeting that morning, but chosen not to when she decided Kim must have already gotten out of her classes. "Uh, oops," she laughed nervously. "No big, I'm sure. I mean, I doubt you had a pop quiz or anything."

Kim gulped.

"Back to shopping!" said Monique in an attempt to steer Kim towards a more entertaining line of thought. She knew how worked up Kim could get about academics, and it wasn't like Mr. Barkin hadn't given her extensions in high school. "Ooh, this one would look good on Paul," she said as she pulled out a frilly, baby-blue dress designed for a plus-sized woman. Kim looked askance at Monique's choice.

"We _are_ talking about Pain King here, right?"

"Yeah. Hey, I'm not saying he'd wear it, I'm just saying it'd look good on him."

Kim snorted at the comment and helped her girlfriend sift through the clothing.

"How are Steve and Paul, by the way?"  
"They're doing good. I actually went shopping with them over the weekend. Steve's daughter is still with that boyfriend that accidentally drove his motorcycle through their storage shed. Apparently he said he couldn't pay for it because of how much it cost to repair his bike. Boy, the way Steve was getting all worked up about it, I thought I'd _never_ hear the end of that. They told me how stupid I was being for worrying about you and Ron, too, even though I didn't really listen to them at the time."

Kim smiled and gave Monique a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Freaking unnecessarily, maybe, but not stupid."

"So what did Dr. Director have to say, anyway?"

"She just wanted me to get back on the horse with my missions," said Kim. "Specifically, with Ron."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I don't see how that's going to happen, though."

Monique nodded as she went through a collection of outfits that would have looked good on Kim, but were not exactly what she was looking for. She'd know it when she found it.

"I do think you'd be happy going on those missions again," said Monique. "And I know things didn't end so well with Ron this weekend, but from what you said, it sounded like you guys were doing okay at first. Maybe the two of you just need to keep trying. If that's really what you want."

"What do _you_ want?" asked Kim.

Monique knew that Kim was referring to her insecurities.

"It's not about me," she said. "But if you really want to know what I want, it's for you to be happy. And I think you already know what would make you happy."

Kim nodded. She had been thinking about what Dr. Director had said while roaming around downtown Upperton, and she was in fact coming to a conclusion about what she wanted. Unfortunate, as she and Dr. Director had agreed at the meeting, it wasn't necessarily up to her.

"How about this one?" asked Monique, holding up a skirt from a collection on a mobile rack. It was nice enough, but Kim would not have picked it out for herself. Monique had a cheeky expression, and Kim knew her chain was being pulled since she had expressed her preference for pants earlier. Still, if Monique picked that skirt out from the others, it meant that she liked that one in particular.

"It looks perfect, actually," said Kim.

"Really?" Monique gave a little hop of excitement. "You'll wear it?"

"Totally."

XX

Shego grumbled as she brought her hovercraft into the air and flipped the 'extreme thrusters' toggle, sending her blasting through the sunny skies of the midwestern United States. A strong wind whipped through her hair and bit into her face as she hurtled through the atmosphere at speeds that would have broken police scanners, had she been on the ground. Their altitude and speed was giving the wind more than a little bit of a cold sting, and although she had no intention of going back to her island lair, Shego suddenly found herself missing the warm benefits of being in the Mediterranean.

"Can you slow down?"

Shego glanced over at her passenger, who was sitting with chattering teeth and his arms folded tightly together. He sat stuffed into the passenger's seat like a sardine in a can - with Shego's boxes and packs of personal possessions, the hovercraft did not have an inch of room to spare.

"I thought you liked going fast," she said.

"Usually. Maybe not right now, though."

Shego slowed the craft down a little; that wind _was_ pretty cold.

Ron's ride had just dropped him off at his house, Shego following in her hovercraft, where she had experienced a brief moment of complete terror at the realization that perhaps Stoppable had ignored her whole speech about the yacht rendezvous being a one time thing, and was going to introduce her to his parents instead. Fortunately, he had only wanted to grab his scooter. Shego had taken one look at the thing and refused vehemently. No way she was climbing on the back of that joke on wheels. Which left her a slightly less annoying alternative: ferrying Ron around on the hovercraft.

"So where are we going?" she said. "I'm kind of surprised you don't have any work on Monday. I figured a do-gooder like you would have a nine to five job you had to get back to."

"I do," said Ron.

"Aren't you missing it, then?"

"I am," said Ron. "I just need to drop by really quickly, and then we can take care of you."

"Take care of me?"

"Well, you didn't think I dragged you along to come hang with me at work, did you?"

Shego shrugged as Ron pointed her in the direction of the Smarty Mart, which she could already see on the horizon. She would have to wait and see what her dorky passenger was planning after he visited his workplace. She wondered if he had totally forgotten about his job, or if he had been deliberately playing hooky. Maybe she was already rubbing off on him a little.

XX

A jagged burst of backfiring shot through the small employee parking lot behind Smarty Mart as Steve Barkin backed his '74 Ford pickup into its regular spot. The truck was getting a little old, but it still got him where he needed to go, and Steve Barkin did not believe in the fancy, souped up vehicles of today's youth. He got out of his truck and slammed the door as he took a look around the parking lot. Speaking of today's youth, he did not see Stoppable's little blue scooter anywhere. That wasn't a good sign.

Steve went into the building and clocked himself into the employee lounge time clock before noticing that someone else was in the room with him. The person was wearing bandages over a large part of his body, obscuring most of his face, but Steve recognized him after a closer look.

"Ah, Jenkins! Back from the hospital, I see."

"Yes sir!" said Jenkins. Steve Barkin was his coworker and not a superior, but it seemed natural to address the man with 'sir', just in case. "I was taking a short break. The doctors say I should be able to get rid of my crutches in another week or two!"

He motioned to a pair of crutches propped against the table beside him. Steve grunted.

"You're on break? I take it Stoppable is here?"

Jenkins coughed nervously.

"Um, no sir. Davis is here, though."

Steve frowned at the name and left the employee lounge. Jenkins grabbed his crutches and limped along behind him since his break was over. As the two of them entered the exotic animals section and arrived at the customer service kiosk where Ron should have been carrying out his shift, Steve could already tell that his young missing manager was in big trouble.

"Ah, Steve Barkin," said Martin Smarty, who was standing behind the kiosk with the night manager, Davis. Judging by the smug look on Davis' face, Steve began to get an idea of what was happening.

"Do you happen to know where Ron Stoppable is?"

"No sir. I just clocked in for my shift myself."

"I've been taking a tour of some of the branches," said Mr. Smarty, "and I was paying a visit here at the Middleton branch when I came in and saw no managers on the floor. I called Davis shortly afterwards to come over here immediately, but Davis tells me that it was Ron Stoppable's shift today."

"I'm sure Stoppable is just a bit late, sir," Steve offered.

"Six hours late, to be exact," said Mr. Smarty as he looked at the employee schedule.

Steve frowned. He was fond enough of Ron Stoppable that he had tried to downplay the boy's absence, but clearly the boy was in for it now. Especially, thought Steve, after Stoppable had been complaining the other day about Martin Smarty turning him down for other store positions. It sounded like Ron was on the outs with Smarty Mart's C.E.O, and there wasn't much Steve could do to save him.

"Look at this, sir," said Davis as he pulled a console system out from behind the kiosk counters. "A game, too. _Zombie Mayhem_. Looks like Stoppable's been up to no good!"

Steve couldn't believe it, but he was actually beginning to feel sorry for Stoppable. He knew that Davis and Ron had a rivalry with each other, and it looked like Davis was the happiest he had been in months at the prospect of finally getting the upper hand on his managerial nemesis. Perhaps Davis had toyed with the scheduling hours deliberately – Steve wouldn't put it past him. He had to admit that he shared Ron's distaste for the night manager. There was a certain reptilian vibe to the man. And he _did_ spend a lot of time hanging around the monitor lizards.

"Ah, Jenkins," said Mr. Smarty as he noticed the heavily bandaged, cast-wearing figure propped up on crutches beside Barkin. "Back from your break, I see. Before I leave, I was wondering if you could sign some papers? I spent some time organizing things and looking around the store before I called for Davis to come in, and I've got them all ready for you."

"Papers, sir? What kind of papers?"

"Oh, just standard legal documents. Non-liability contracts in case of reptile injury – trivial things, really. They're just meant to reinforce the employment contract that you already signed. Nothing for you to worry about, it just needs your signature."

"Okay then sir!"

Martin Smarty smiled and nodded, glad that he had visited the Middleton Smarty Mart. Things had clearly been getting a little out of control at this branch lately, and he had arrived just in time to clean house and set things in order. He was about to break some bad news to Davis when he nearly jumped and smacked his head against the roof of the customer service kiosk in surprise. Two familiar figures had just appeared out of one of the exotic animals aisles.

Ron Stoppable, and – if Martin was remembering her name correctly – Miss Wobakoff.

"Hey Mr. Barkin," said Ron before doing a double-take at the other people present. "Hey Mr. Smarty. And _Davis_," he added as he eyes slitted dangerously.

Shego gaped at the presence of Steve Barkin. She hadn't seen him in years, and Ron had mentioned nothing about Steve working at the Smarty Mart. Did he drag her along to try to hook her up with his old high school teacher out of pity? Steve nodded curtly at her, obviously just as thrown off by her presence, but before she could say anything, Martin Smarty adjusted his tie and sidled up to her with a smile.

"Miss Wobackoff. How nice to meet you again!"

"Wobackoff? Who? Who the hell are – oh, right. Martin. Uh, hey."

"Did you stop by the Smarty Mart to visit _me_, by any chance? You know I'm still single."

Shego felt her eye twitch as she wondered why she had ever agreed to tag along with Ron without knowing where he was going. "Don't you still have that kid?" she asked. It was a stupid question, but she was mainly trying to shut him down before he got any ideas.

"He's been in juvenile hall so much lately, you'd barely know he was there," said Martin.

"Is that like a pickup line?"

Martin frowned, a little unsure of how to deal with Shego's attitude, but he found himself brushed aside as Steve Barkin decided to make a move, grabbing Shego's hand and giving it a vigorous shake.

"Miss Go – IT'S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU AGAIN!"

Steve gave himself a silent reprimand as Shego winced at his throaty yell. He always tended to get a little loud when he got nervous around charming women.

"Look, for God's sake, my name is Shego, okay? _Shego_."

"Is that seriously your real name?" asked Ron.

"No, it's – that's what you people need to call me, alright? Shego!"

"I apologize," said Steve. "So, I saw that United Nations conference on television after you helped Kim and Ron here save the world. You know, when Drakken put those flower tendrils around you. I was wondering, ah – are the two of you still together?"

Shego groaned as she gave Ron a very pointed look that let him know he needed to get his work business done quickly. She had been dealing with far too many exes in one day, especially when Stoppable had thrown her into two of them with no prior warning.

"Mister Smarty," said Ron, "I needed to tell you something."

Martin stared at his employee, a little annoyed to be interrupted for a second time in the middle of his attempt to get back in Miss Wobakoff's – Shego's – good graces. Still, he remembered that he needed to deal with the issue of Ron Stoppable missing almost an entire manager's shift. After Ron's lackluster job performance lately, Martin believed that this new infraction was the last straw.

"I quit, sir."

Martin blinked.

"You quit Smarty Mart?"

"Yes sir. I appreciate the opportunities you've given me, and I enjoyed working here, but I've decided it's time for me to move on. I know it'll be tough to keep this place together without the Ron man around, but I hope you understand I need this."

Martin shrugged and gave Ron a vigorous handshake. "I was going to fire you," he said, "so your decision is fine with me. Good luck to you!"

Ron returned the handshake limply.

"Er – thanks?"

"Oh, and that reminds me," Martin said as he noticed Davis tugging at his shoulder. "I had some news for you as well."

"Giving me a raise and a promotion?" asked Davis. "I believe I would work well as an overall store manager in command of several floor managers, sir. I have big plans for this store!"

Martin shook his head. "No, not good news. Bad news. Bad news for you. I was looking over some of the taped security camera feeds when I got here, before I called you to come in and cover Stoppable's shift. I noticed that you were the one who exercised negligence in keeping the monitor lizard cages locked and the lizards fed, thus allowing them to escape and maul poor Jenkins here."

Jenkins attempted to nod at Martin Smarty's vague hand wave of acknowledgment, although his neck cast meant that his whole body did a sort of awkward dip, which nearly made him lose his balance and drop his crutches.

"Not only that, but I noticed numerous other safety infractions on the security feed, as well as you playing games on that console system there. I even saw you erasing some of Ronald's top scores."

"You can see that?" asked Davis in a meek whisper.

"Our security cameras are top of the line," Martin said. "Near-microscopic magnification capabilities! Also, you're fired. Get your things from the employee lounge and leave."

Davis gaped for a moment, shocked at the turn of events, before his shoulders slumped down in defeat. Ron watched as he walked past, and while he first reaction – amazingly enough – was a twinge of pity, Ron remembered why he hated Davis when the night manager gave him a silent hiss before passing by.

"He's kinda got a reptile thing going there," said Shego as she watched Davis leave the department in a distinctively slithery fashion.

"Totally," Steve and Ron said simultaneously.

"Now," said Martin as he tapped the side of his head, deep in thought, "next on my agenda-"

"Mr. Smarty?"

"Yes, Ronald?"

"I'd like to suggest Mr. Barkin for the manager's position. I think he would be a very good manager for the Middleton branch. I've worked with him for a long time in both an academic and professional capacity, and, well, the dude's pretty cool when he chills out a bit."

Martin nodded. Ronald seemed to be reading his mind today.

"Yes, I was just about to offer him the job. It's not like there's anyone else I can promote around here anyway, unless Jenkins wanted some more responsibilities."

Jenkins tried to shake his immobile head, nearly sending himself spinning onto the ground again.

"In that case, how about it Steve? Want the job?"

"SIR YES SIR!"

Martin Smarty grimaced as Steve crushed his hand in a vice-like handshake.

"Alright," said Shego, "are we done here?"

The group stared blankly at her as she felt herself growing increasingly impatient.

"You said we had somewhere else to go after this?" she asked Ron.

"Yeah."

"Then let's go already."

Shego grabbed Ron by the arm and led him out of the exotic animals department, letting Ron wave a quick goodbye to his old teacher before they left. She caught a glimpse of both Martin Smarty and Steve Barkin extending their hands longingly as she began to leave. Before disappearing down one of the aisles, she glanced over her shoulder and winked at the two men.

"Bye boys!"

Martin and Steve let out a pair of sighs as they watched the woman's back end disappear. To be honest, Steve thought, Shego had a little bit of a reptilian vibe to her as well, although it was very different from the unpleasant aura that emanated from Davis. Shego was no innocent flower like Miss Go, but her charms were just as apparent. Sort of like a sexy snake or something. All that green, undulating...

"She's really something, isn't she?" said Martin.

"Definitely, sir."

Martin took a few moments to gaze wistfully at the spot where Miss Wobakoff had just been standing before slapping Steve on the back. "Time for me to visit the Lowerton branch," he said. "Hopefully it won't be as much of a mess as this one. But you'll be turning that around, right Barkin?"

"Absolutely!"

Martin nodded and left the Customer Service and Exotic Animals Management Kiosk, as was its official name in the Smarty Mart handbook, to Steve and Jenkins. Steve looked at the empty kiosk and nearly licked his lips in anticipation. _This_ was what he had been waiting for. _This_ was what he deserved. Steve Barkin, Smarty Mart floor manager – or maybe general manager. He wasn't clear on what Martin Smarty had meant, but the Smarty Mart C.E.O. was already gone. Steve would have to get clarification later.

"Ready to work, Jenkins?"

Jenkins nodded hesitantly.

"Maybe you go check on those monitor lizard cages and make sure everything looks ship shape."

"I'm not sure, sir. Couldn't I check the dachshund cages instead? Or maybe the parakeets?"

"Jenkins, son, listen up," said Steve as he ushered in a little closer, ready to impart some wisdom to the boy. "When I was in 'Nam, one of the most important things we learned, other than how to use alternative materials as toilet paper when you're smack in the middle of hostile territory, was how to deal with fear. Jenkins, you have to tackle fear head on. You gotta face that fear and show it who's boss!

"Now," he said as he slapped Jenkins on the back, not noticing the boy's squeak of pain, "go tell those monitor lizards that you're back and stronger than ever!"

"Yes sir!"

Jenkins dashed away, to the extent that crutches allowed dashing, as Steve entered the kiosk. He took a loving look at the manager's chair in which Stoppable had always sat, except on the rare occasion that Steve took over and sat in it instead.

Now, it was his. All his.

He eased himself slowly into the seat, enjoying the feel of the hard plastic and awkward arms, not even remotely designed with ergonomics in mind. Steve Barkin would whip this branch into shape, pronto.

He would have to thank Stoppable for putting a good word in for him, too. It meant a lot that the boy recognized his retail and management capabilities. Steve had always thought of Stoppable as a bit of a protégé. A piece of human clay, who had just taken a longer time than usual to be molded into something useful. And Steve could tell that Ron was going places now.

Although he hadn't said so, Steve assumed the boy had been late to work because he was on a mission with Kim Possible. He wasn't sure why Shego was hanging around with him, but if Stoppable could get a woman like that to even tolerate his presence, he must have been doing something right. Shego was certainly out of Steve's league, as he had unfortunately learned during that last attempt to woo her with the mandolin at Drakken's lair. Steve blinked back a tear of pride as he thought of his student – once in academics, but now in the lessons of life and love. Once a boy, but now - just maybe - a man.

If only he would think about a little weight training for that scrawny upper body.


	15. Closures

**Closures**

XX

She should have known what Ron had been planning as soon as they left the island earlier, but it became increasingly obvious when they left Middleton and traveled by hovercraft in the direction of Upperton. As they flew over the downtown area, Shego became increasingly familiar with the route they were taking. Ron pointed towards a parking lot below them. As the craft descended, it was clear that all the spaces in the lot were taken, but Shego didn't care. One of the benefits of being someone who flouted the law was that, well – you could park wherever you darn well pleased.

"Uh, is this really a parking spot?" asked Ron as the hovercraft touched down in the middle of the lot, blocking several cars.

"It is now,."

Shego turned off the craft as the two of them jumped down from their seats and onto the asphalt. She pulled out her remote control and pressed a button. Although nothing visible happened, the hovercraft let off a faint crackling sound for a moment, as if someone had just pulled a static-filled fuzzy sweater from it.

"What was that?" asked Ron.

"Electric field," said Shego. "Just in case anybody doesn't like me parking there and tries to give me a ticket or put a key to my paint job."

"Does that happen a lot?"

"Yep. Sometimes they're actually lying on the ground unconscious next to the hovercraft when I get back. It's probably the best invention I came up with as a supervillain, to tell you the truth."

Shego followed Ron out of the parking lot after watching him nearly poke the hovercraft in curiosity before withdrawing his hand at the last second. As they took a route down the street, she knew exactly where they were going. She had even parked her hovercraft in that parking lot before. She knew why Ron had gotten her to come along now, but she didn't know if she should be feeling anger or thankfulness towards him. Was this what she needed? As they reached the front of the shop, Shego began to feel an urge to run away rising up within herself.

"Here we are," said Ron.

Shego looked up at the sign. Doctor D Cups.

Such an awful, awful name. But that was what happened when Drakken didn't have her around to keep him on the straight and narrow. _Emphasis on straight_, she thought.

"I'd take a guess as to why you dragged me here, but I think I already know."

Ron gave her a pat on the back, but she was too wrapped up in other thoughts to notice and be annoyed.

"Yep. Closure."

Shego nodded slowly as she stared over the tables and chairs on the patio and into the store's front window. Cars drove by in the street behind them, casting distorted reflections that moved across the glass and melded with other reflections of the surrounding cityscape. It was hard to see inside, but she could make out some customers eating at tables and booths. As she peered more closely, there was a glimpse of blue inside the store. Shego grabbed Ron and pulled him back with her as she ducked into a small alley beside the bakery.

"Look, I can't do this," she said. "What the hell am I supposed to say? What am I supposed to do? He's probably in there with Hank right now – I haven't talked to him in years!"

"I don't know," said Ron. "That's up to you. But it's obvious you never got all of this behind you. Come on, Shego, stealing cupcakes from the guy? Why else would you be doing that if you didn't want it to come to this?"

Shego groaned. She just thought the cupcakes were really good, but even as she told herself that, she knew it didn't explain everything. They _were_ good, no doubt about it, but they weren't good enough to justify the times she had spent surreptitiously scoping out Drakken's bakery 'Scoping out', she had to admit, was a less creepy way of saying 'stalking.'

That was what it all came down to in the end. Drakken.

All that time she had spent with him. All that time she had helped him with his inane schemes until their inevitable failure. Slowly lowering her emotional defenses, letting herself actually be close to someone even if she never really showed it. And just when she thought she had changed, both of them had changed - just when she thought maybe she was capable of really caring about someone - it had all been a stupid mistake. Just an embarrassing side effect of Drakken's Super High Pollinator mishap.

_ Embarrassing_, Drakken had said after admitting he had gone on a few dates with her because he didn't know what else to do. _No big deal. Just a misunderstanding – didn't mean to lead you on, Shego._

They had only been dates in Shego's mind, really, and they were certainly awkward enough to preclude any romance, but Shego had been hoping for things to escalate after that United Nations conference. She had let her desires cloud the reality of the situation. Then Drakken had announced he was giving up the supervillain business and going into actual legitimate business, which was just another step in pulling apart a relationship that had never even existed. And finding out about Hank Perkins - that had been the final blow.

Shego had spent a lot of time feeling bitter about the whole thing. After she tore up her contract and left Drakken behind, she spent a lot of time not doing much of anything, until finally she embarked on her foray into supervillainy, deciding it had been a mistake to let herself get attached to someone. She was too good for that. She was a better supervillain than any of those other louts, Drakken included.

Once she had saved the world and actually sort of enjoyed it, Shego had begun to wonder about the course of her life. It made her wonder just how evil she really was. But she pushed all of that away after the debacle with Drakken. The whole thing had made her think she was getting too soft, that she had let Doctor D lead her astray with his own change of heart. She _would_ be a supervillain. She _would_ reclaim her independence, cut those hidden weaknesses out of herself and burn them into oblivion. Shego didn't need to play second fiddle to anyone, and she would get back on track. Back to her roots.

If only things had worked out that way.

"You okay, Shego?"

"What?"

"You were grinding your teeth there for a minute," said Ron.

They stood together, hidden in the alleyway. A few pedestrians glanced at them as they passed. Shego found it bizarre that she was in this situation with Ron. Here, now, mere feet away from Drakken. Ron seemed to be trying to do her a favor, but she was his enemy. Maybe he was nursing the hope that she'd turn into a good guy.

Shego let out a short, barking laugh at the thought, but just as the sound rang through the alley, the irony of the situation struck her. She had been a good guy, once. Shego had tried to turn to supervillainy after being hurt by Drakken as a way to reclaim herself, rediscover her identity – her roots, was the way she had thought of it – but her roots were with Team Go. Her deepest roots. Her oldest, most embryonic identity, one that she had rejected long ago, sloughed off like a useless skin as she blossomed in evil. And yet, somehow, her evil skin was just as bad a fit as the good one had been. She had no idea who she was anymore. Maybe she had no identity at all.

"Who am I?"

Ron scratched his head and thought very seriously about the question.

"Is this a trick question?"

Shego shook her head. Whatever virtues Ron had, deep philosophical ruminations on the nature of identity were probably not among them. It had mostly been a rhetorical question anyway.

"You're Shego," said Ron. "Whoever that is."

Shego stared at him, trying to figure out what he meant, if he meant anything at all.

"Why are you helping me?"

"I dunno," said Ron. "It was cool of you to let me hang out on your island for a while, and that whole thing on the yacht was pretty fun. A little scary, though. And it just seemed like you could use a little push in the right direction with the whole Drakken thing. It seems like you're having some of the same problems I've been having, and I thought we both needed to move on a little bit."

"Hmm. So this isn't some lame attempt to get friendly with me? You're not thinking I'm going to move on and turn into your little Miss Go sexy teacher fantasy or something, are you? Because I don't see any Attitudinators around."

"Dude, Miss Go was kind of creepy," said Ron. "So no. I already told you, I know you're the way that you are, okay? I know you're not going to change."

Shego wasn't sure why she was asking the question – just out of interest, maybe – but she asked anyway.

"Do you want me to change?"

The clatter and din of passing cars filtered into the quiet alleyway.

"Well," said Ron, "it would definitely be easier for me and Kim if you didn't go back to fighting us and trying to take over the world all the time. Is that what you meant?"

Shego laughed. She wasn't sure what she meant, but she supposed Ron's answer had been kind of obvious. And the question, really, was whether _she_ wanted to change. Shego doubted she would ever be like Kim and Ron, at least. Beyond that, it was a question for which she did not have an answer. Not yet. She'd have to shelve it for now.

But she knew one thing she _did_ want. Something she needed, in fact. Ron Stoppable had been surprisingly perceptive in knowing exactly what it was, too, and Shego was finally accepting it. She had to get over her immaturity, her hangups, her past – she needed closure.

And she was about to get it, too.

"Wait for me!" said Ron as Shego left the alley and turned into the fenced patio in front of the bakery. She burst through the door, its bell chiming hysterically, and looked over the room with an imperious gaze as Ron squeezed in behind her. Every customer in the room, and a handful of employees, turned their heads as one towards the noisy new arrival. Shego looked over the room's occupants and did not see Drakken, or Hank for that matter – maybe they had gone back into the employee area. Several of the customers caught her eye, however. Three very familiar customers.

"Shego! What a coincidence that you are here too!"

Junior stood up from the booth and waved enthusiastically, while his girlfriend and father took a little longer to look back at who had just entered the store. Señor Senior Senior gave them a nod, and Bonnie slumped back into her seat with a groan after noticing that Ron Stoppable was standing behind Shego.

"What are _you_ three doing here?" said Shego as she walked up to the booth.

"My son was quite taken by the taste of those cupcakes," said Senior, "and insisted that we take a trip to eat more. I, of course, could not stand any more of his incessant whining, and here we find ourselves. Won't you join us?"

"Uh, I have other business here, actually."

"How unfortunate."

"You're telling me."

Shego's other business appeared on cue in the form of a blue-skinned man who came out of the employee door wearing an apron and a white chef's hat perched on top of a black quasi-mullet. Behind him, Hank Perkins appeared, dressed in his usual sharp-looking business suit, although he was also wearing a white apron over it. Drakken had a plate of cupcakes balanced in his hands, but upon seeing his old partner in supervillainy, he dropped the plate to the ground with a crash.

After a moment of paralysis, Drakken's voice came out in a forced squeal. "Hello Shego," he squeaked. "Long time no see!"

Shego stared at Drakken, a mixture of feelings pouring into her, released from floodgates hidden deep within herself. They were in such a jumble that Shego couldn't pick out one from another, and for a moment she felt hesitant – even afraid. Maybe she _wasn't_ ready for this. Drakken and Hank stared at her silently, and from the expressions on their faces, Shego could tell they were a little nervous as well. Hank in particular. Their own fear encouraged Shego, reminded her that she was always in control. She forced the fear back down.

Ready or not, Shego was on the spot. It was time to get her past behind her.

"We need to talk," she said. "Now!"

She pointed towards the employee door and walked towards Drakken, grabbing him by the arm before he could decide on a course of action other than standing still and cowering. Hank followed the two of them behind the counters, leaving Ron alone in the shop as they went into the back room.

Shego looked around the employee area. Several teenage workers, who had been busy slaving away in the back, scattered out into the store itself as they sensed something was about go down, leaving Shego and her two bumbling shop owners alone in the room. She noticed a baking oven dominating her surroundings, looking more like something from one of Drakken's old lairs than a piece of equipment that could be found in a bakery. It was definitely Drakken's style, at least. But enough sightseeing. Shego returned her attention to the purpose of her visit.

"What brings you to my shop, Shego?" asked Drakken.

"You."

XX

Ron took a seat in the booth with the Seniors and Bonnie, twiddling his thumbs for lack of anything better to do. He watched idly as one of the bakery employees picked up the cupcakes that Drakken had dropped and began to sweep up the broken plate scattered across the floor. Shego had needed his moral support to come here and do her thing, but now it looked like she was ready to handle it on her own. He listened with the other occupants of the booth as the sound of faint voices came from inside the employee area.

"So, we meet again, Ron Stoppable."

"Junior, dude, we already saw each other twice this weekend. Why do you keep saying that?"

"I do not know. I think it is just for the dramatic effect."

It _was_ pretty dramatic. Ron had to give him that.

_Led me on... opened up to you and you..._

The bakery began to grow more quiet as the other customers began to pick up on the faint conversation going on inside the employee area. Several people froze, their hands halfway to their mouths in mid-sip of coffee or mid-bite of cupcake. Ron looked around at the booth and coughed nervously.

"So Bonnie," he said, "what have you been up to lately?"

Bonnie tapped a well-manicured fingernail on the cream-colored tabletop as she stared impassively at Ron.

"I'm going out with Junior, living on our island. What do you mean?"

"Well, I meant like, what are your plans? Did you go to college or anything?"

Bonnie snorted. "Why in the world would I do that?" she asked.

Ron gave up his feeble attempt at conversation as it fell rapidly into a death spiral. In the increasingly oppressive silence that began to cover the bakery, the conversation in the employee room sounded like it was ratcheting itself up into an argument.

_How could I know that... employee relationship wasn't more than..._

Ron was surprised to hear that Drakken seemed to be raising his own voice in response to Shego.

_Can't believe... don't give me... were holding me back!_

"So, you and Shego," asked Junior as he politely tried to ignore the increasingly violent argument raging in the back room, "is there something going on there?"

Ron hesitated a moment.

"Uh, probably not."

"Probably you say? But you just hesitated, did you not?"

Junior peered more closely at Ron's transparent attempt at a poker face, and felt a rare moment of insight hit him like a brick wall.

Ron Stoppable, you sly dog!"

Junior held out his hand for a high five, and while Ron spent a few moments trying and failing to prevent a blush from spreading over his cheeks, he finally returned it. He didn't want to leave Junior hanging, after all. And he supposed he _was_ kind of surprising that he would get lucky with an older woman, even if it was only just the one time.

"Please," said Senior, "let us be more mature."

"Sorry father."

Ron jumped at the sound of something crashing and breaking in the back room. He looked up as an employee approached the booth with a tray of cupcakes in hand.

"More cupcakes?" he asked.

Junior nodded vigorously. "Most definitely!"

_Why... blaming me for hangups that aren't... have to move on!_

Senior watched his son a little distastefully as Junior dug into the fresh batch of cupcakes, and Bonnie would have joined Senior's disgust had she not been busy looking out the window and waiting to be elsewhere.

_AM moving on... is how I'm doing it!_

Ron grabbed a cupcake of his own and took a bite as the arguing ceased, and the sound of scuffling broke out in the employee area instead. Soon, it was punctuated by what sounded like a thud. He hoped Shego would be finished with her closure soon, as he had some business to attend to. He joined Bonnie in looking out the window pensively as he finished his cupcake. Tasty, for sure – tastier than anything he would have expected from Drakken – but they lacked the Ron factor.

After a few more minutes of awkward silence, during which a number of the customers had filed out of the bakery in anticipation that whatever was going on in the employee area might spill out into the actual dining area, the yelling and shattering sounds died down. Ron watched the employee door expectantly, until finally it burst open, vomiting Shego forth like a victorious conquerer in green and black, emerging from the belly of the beast. She left the counter area and walked over to the booth where Ron was sitting, grabbing his hand and shaking it unexpectedly.

"I gotta hand it to you, Stoppable - this was definitely I needed."

"No big!"

Drakken and Hank trailed out of the employee area a few moments after Shego. Ron noticed that Hank Perkins was rapidly developing a black eye, but the two of them seemed surprisingly calm.

"You guys okay?"

"Oh yes," said Drakken. "I think Shego and I came to an understanding."

Ron winced at the sight of Hank's eye. "What about you?"

"I'm swell."

Judging by the inflamed eyelid, Ron wondered if Hank's pun was intended.

"Sorry about that," said Shego as she slapped Hank chummily on the back. "I guess I just really needed to let out some rage that I never really took care of. But no hard feelings anymore, alright? And my beef was with Drakken in the end, I know you weren't really responsible for any slights against me."

Ron was amazed at Shego's sudden change in attitude. It really was like she was a new woman; although Ron had thought she needed closure, he wasn't used to being so blatantly right about something. He had seen Shego taking sarcastic pleasure in things, or taking a kind of morbid happiness at landing a good kick at Kim Possible, but the genuinely happy vibe she was radiating now was not something he was used to seeing in her.

"Are you guys done?" asked Ron.

Shego glanced at Drakken and Hank before nodding.

"Good, because I had a question I wanted to ask you, Doctor D."

"What's that, Kim's sidekick?"

"I was wondering if you were looking for a head chef."

Drakken, along with everyone else around the booth, stared blankly at Ron.

"What? Why?"

"Because I'd like to apply for the job, if you are."

Drakken pursed his lips at the question. He supposed things had been changing a little between him and his old foes, but he had not expected to get a job request from the buffoon.

"So, you're telling me that you brought Shego here to punch out my boyfriend and then ask me for a job?" asked Drakken. "Don't get me wrong, I think it was good to see Shego again, but this is a peculiar strategy, buffoon."

When Drakken put it that way, Ron thought, maybe it was a bit of a leap.

"I'm a good cook," he said. "I can make cupcakes better than the ones you have."

"I seriously doubt that," laughed Drakken.

"And I can make a lot of things besides cupcakes, too! I know you guys were talking about doing what you know, but I know baking, and you can keep your D Cups as a signature item but sell other stuff along with it. A whole store only for cupcakes and coffee is kind of needlessly limited."

Although he was skill skeptical of the fact that Ron could make a better cupcake than one of his D Cups, Drakken had to admit that the buffoon's confidence was unexpected. He found himself intrigued.

"Tell you what," he said, "You claim you can give me a better product than what I already have? Prove it."

Drakken motioned for Ron to follow him back into the employee area.

"Do you have a fully stocked kitchen back there?" asked Ron.

"Yes," said Drakken. "We haven't really been using it since we got the warehouse kitchen and bakery area up and running and centralized our distribution, but this was our first branch. And we have the Bakinator 2000, which were were going to send to the warehouse, but I still have to work out a few kinks."

"Baking stuff at the warehouse is stupid," said Ron. "Once you get a taste of my goods, you'll be sold on fresh baked goods, made on location."

"Get a taste of your goods?" asked Shego, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"Er, pretend I didn't say that."

Drakken and Hank left the booth as they entered the employee room, motioning for Ron to follow them. As Ron got out of the booth, Bonnie and the Seniors also got up to leave.

"I am afraid we must go," said Senior. "Miss Rockwaller has whispered to me that she wishes to return home and sunbathe, and I am afraid I cannot say no to such a charming young lady. I am ever at the whims of these two, you see."

Ron waved goodbye as they headed for the door, Bonnie giving him an awkward nod and Junior giving him a wink and a thumbs up as he tilted his head in Shego's direction, which Ron hoped Shego had not noticed.

"We shall meet again, Ron Stoppable!" said Junior just before the door closed.

"Are you coming, buffoon?" asked Drakken as he poked his head out of the employee door.

"Yeah, in a minute."

As Drakken disappeared behind the door again, Shego also got up from the booth. She had not been expecting Ron to ask for a job from her old employer, and she was sort of interested in seeing whether or not Ron's cupcakes could actually beat Drakken's, but she did not like the idea of hanging around for a half hour baking contest after she had just gotten her particularly physical style of closure with Drakken and Hank. Her business was done, and she decided it was best to follow the Seniors' examples.

"I'm gonna head out too," she said. "Uh, it's been interesting Ron."

"Definitely," he agreed.

The two of them stood silently for a moment as they found themselves plunged into an awkward silence. Shego was never very good at goodbyes. Why she even felt the need to engage in a formal goodbye with Kim's dork of a sidekick, she was having trouble figuring out. _How things have changed_, she thought. It used to be that she would sneak away from her one night stands before they even woke up, and yet this one had dragged her across an ocean somehow.

She turned away, about to head for the door, when Ron stopped her with a cough. She turned around and was startled to find him sidling up next to her and bringing his mouth to her ear.

"Hey, look," he said in a whisper, "could we keep, uh – well, what happened – could we keep that just between us? Like, no telling Kim? I know you'd want to give her a hard time about it, but things are already hard enough between us. I dunno how she'd feel about hearing I was chumming it up with the enemy. Not that you're the enemy. Unless you are. I mean – well, you know what I mean, right?"

Shego rolled her eyes. Ron was right; although she hadn't had much time to think about it, sleeping with Kim's former sidekick and boyfriend gave her enough psychological ammunition to fling at Kim for years to come. Not that she had even seen Kim in a long time, but she had always assumed she would be back to fighting her old teen foe sooner or later.

"I did you a favor by bringing you here," said Ron, "so just do me a solid in return, okay?"

She looked down at Ron's face, which was distorted into a ridiculously sappy expression that was clearly designed to appeal to her emotional side. His eyes were large and watery, and his lips were extended into a pout. Almost like a dog, she thought. Or a puppy. Shego had no idea how anyone could succumb to such a transparent attempt at emotional blackmail. It was comical.

But then, Ron _had_ done her a favor. And the last weekend had been one of the most unexpectedly enjoyable ones she had spent in months. Perhaps even years.

Now that she thought about it, that night on the yacht with Ron could have unintended consequences for her own street cred. Someone as villainous as she was, even if she wasn't so sure just how villainous she was anymore, was not the type of person who slept with the Ron Stoppables of the world. Even if she enjoyed it, she had the villain food chain to think of. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with her future, or even what she was going to do once she walked out of the bakery door, but maybe it was best to avoid potential embarrassment if anyone found out about the two of them.

"Alright already," she said as Ron continued his pout. "I won't tell anybody if you don't."

"Deal!"

As Shego shook his hand, she began to wonder if that pout of his really had influenced her after all.

"Excuse me," said Drakken as he appeared at the employee door again, "but I thought you were hoping to get a job? I believe you are late for your job interview!"

"Okay, I'm coming! Sorry!"

Shego gave Drakken a nod before leaving the store, which he returned, a little nervously, before letting Ron back into the employee area. Hank Perkins was already clearing a spot on a table where Ron could make his cupcakes. Drakken showed Ron the high-tech kitchen and the specialized, supervillainesque oven that awaited him. A refrigerator was stocked with milk, eggs, and other perishable goods, while shelves of sugar, flour, and numerous herbs and spices lined shelves on a nearby wall.

Ron took a closer look; there was enough for him to work with. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"Get ready for some schoolin'!"

XX

Kim pushed the empty plate away from her as she wondered if her mother was trying to feed her until she exploded. Although it was good food – her mother's brain loaf was one of Kim's favorite meals when she managed to pay her family a visit during her busy college schedule – Kim wondered what she had done to deserve death by overfeeding.

"More loaf, honey?"

"Only if you want me to barf on your nice new tablecloth," said Kim.

"Feed her more!" shouted Tim.

Jim nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "Yeah, we totally wanna see Kim barf!"

"Guys," said James, "calm down a little."

The Possible family had finished their dinner, and while Monique sometimes had an appetite that belied her trim physique, she looked like she was no longer touching any food either. Anne started gathering up the plates and silverware to rinse in the sink and load into the dishwater, while James finished off his plate and got up to help her.

"I think we'll be going back to the apartment now," said Kim. "I did technically miss class today, so I'll have to make sure I'm not here all night long and actually get some sleep tonight."

"You missed your classes?" asked James as he looked back from cleaning the dishes with his wife. "I'm disappointed, Kimmie-cub – you know better!"

"I missed classes all the time in high school, dad. It's seriously no big. I'll just pretend I had a really hard day today and get Mr. Barkin to give me an extension on anything I might have missed!"

"You mean, as opposed to tellin' him you just totally forgot and went shopping instead," said Monique with a barely-concealed snigger of amusement.

"Very funny," said Kim. "Well, okay, completely true, but way to be supportive."

"That's what I'm here for!"

The table was cleared, leftovers returned to the fridge, and the twins had finished running around aimlessly – something that never seemed to cease amusing them, no matter how old they became – and the Possible family gathered around their daughter and her girlfriend to say their goodbyes. Anne gave Monique a hug as everyone stood at the front door.

"Any chance you'll be coming around for Thanksgiving?" said Anne. "I'm sure you want to celebrate with your family, but the way I saw you eating my brain loaf, I imagine you could manage two dinners in one night."

Monique gaped at Kim's mother in mock shock.

"I was thinking about it, but now that you say it like _that_!"

Monique opened the door as Kim gave her parents and brothers a hug. "I'll be in the car," she told her girlfriend, not wanting to spend more time than necessarily in the chilly evening air. Kim gave her arm a squeeze as Monqiue left for the Sloth parked in the driveway.

"I'm sorry about the mission," Anne told her daughter. "When you told me about it, I was hoping you and Ron might end up patching things up a bit, maybe being friends again. But you know, Kimmie, sometimes things don't always turn out quite the way you want."

"That's alright," said Kim. "I think it was worth doing in the end. And as awkward as the mission was, I think Dr. Director made some good points when I was talking to her today. It's not like I never want to see Ron again, and I think we could probably handle more missions together if he was willing to give it a chance."

"I can always send him into a deep space orbit for a few months and give him a little time to think about what he wants," said James with a wink. "Anything for my Kimmie-cub!"

"Thanks but no thanks, dad. I don't want to be unfair to Ron anyway. I guess maybe I had a blame in everything as much as he did. It's a big mess, basically."

"It's called being an adult," said James.

Anne raised an eyebrow at her husband. "You think your life is a big mess, huh?"

James noticed the expression on his wife's face and coughed nervously. "Haha, of course not. I was generalizing – my life is perfect and problem-free, thanks to our marriage, dear."

"I thought so."

"Okay," said Kim. "I'll let you guys work that out on your own. My girlfriend is waiting for me."

"Goodbye, honey!"

Kim gave the tweebs a last wave goodbye and hurried to the Sloth, opening the door to find Monique flipping stations on the radio. Kim turned on the headlights and pulled out of the driveway into the quiet Middleton suburb.

XX

The Sloth pulled into the apartment parking lot, and Monique gingerly stepped out of the passenger side, holding her stomach.

"That was nice brain loaf your mom made, Kim, but I think I ate a bit too much."

"And who's fault is that?"

"Your mom's."

Kim gave her girlfriend a shrug, admitting to herself that Monique was probably right. The two of them approached the covered stairway that led up to their second floor apartment, and Kim looked forward to saying hello to their pet budgerigars before dropping straight into bed.

Despite feeling a little tired, Kim was in a good mood. Normally she felt guilty about skipping classes, even when it was due to missions, but other than the slightly awkward meeting with Dr. Director, today had been a good day off. Shopping with Monique, dinner with the parents. It was just too bad that it was drawing a close as the evening wore on. Kim wasn't sure exactly what she had accomplished on her cupcake-based mission in terms of actually fighting evil or protecting the innocent, but it didn't matter. She felt like she had earned a day off.

Upon reaching the second floor landing, she almost smacked straight into Monique, who had stopped in front of her before reaching their apartment door. Kim looked around her girlfriend and noticed what it was – or, who it was - that had stopped her in her tracks.

"Hey Kim." said Ron. "Long time no see, Monique."

"Heya," said Monique.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you guys."

Kim noticed Ron was shivering a little. The fall weather had been growing colder lately.

"How long have you been standing out here?" she asked.

"Er, just a few minutes," he said. "Or like half an hour. You think I could come in and warm up?"

There was a moment of hesitation, but Kim realized that she was glad to see him there. It was late, but she did want to talk to him. The mission had ended badly, and she had said things she regretted. At least this meant Ron wasn't going to be ignoring her for months again. Maybe people really _did_ change sometimes.

"Of course you can come in."


	16. Openings

**Openings**

XX

For some reason, Ron had been half-expecting the apartment to look exactly like Kim's room. It did not.

Ron looked around at the living room as he entered Kim and Monique's apartment. This was his first visit, as the two of them had moved into the apartment after he had fallen out of touch with them. The kitchen was connected to the living room, separated by a partial wall. Ron looked at the living room couch and thought he recognized it as the one in her parent's house, on which he had sat with Kim and her brothers many times in the past, watching television or playing video games. Maybe Kim's parents had bought a new one and given Kim the old one.

He wondered what their bedroom looked like – whether Kim still had her Cuddlebuddies, what kinds of decorations Monique might have put up – but he wasn't sure if he was welcome enough to ask for a tour of the apartment yet.

"Is this about the mission?" asked Kim. "I know I left a bit – well, I know you were doing a little more recon on Shego's island."

Ron felt a brief flash of fear, but judging by Kim's behavior, she did not know anything about him and Shego. Not that there was any reason she would have, but Kim Possible could be very perceptive.

"No, it's not about the mission," he said. "I was hoping we could talk."

"About what?"

Ron rubbed the back of his neck as he wondered what to say. Although he was nervous, he realized that Kim was probably willing to listen to him just based on the fact that she had let him into the apartment in the first place.

"I wanted to say I was sorry."

"Um, hey guys," said Monique, sensing that her girlfriend and old friend needed a little alone time. "I just remembered I have some homework to do for classes tomorrow, so I think I'm gonna go hang out in the bedroom for a little while. You guys have fun in here, okay?"

Kim smiled as Monique retreated quickly into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. She considered offering Ron a snack from the cupboard, but decided it was best not to distract him. If he wanted to open up, then she was happy to listen. And maybe she would open up a little too. Kim plopped down on the couch and motioned for Ron to join her.

"Ron, I'm sorry too."

"Sorry about what?"

"About the way the mission ended, the way I talked to you. Probably the same stuff you're sorry about, I'm guessing. I think some of the things you said to me were true, about me being a little jealous of your mystical monkey power, of your potential. And about me not doing enough to maintain the relationship when I got involved in college and you stayed in Middleton."

"Well, you were right about me being childish," said Ron. "I think I sort of realized over the last few days that I have to move on and grow up a little. Take responsibility for my life. And even if you can be really pushy, you were right about me not doing anything to improve my situation. I know you were trying to help me, just in that coach KP kind of way."

Kim laughed, as she knew that Ron was referring to her time as soccer coach for Jim and Tim and their classmates. She would have gotten defensive about the reference in the past, but like Ron, she had been turning a critical eye on herself since their mission together and noticed a few things she hadn't really seen before.

"So what does that mean?" she asked. "You want to try to be friends again?"

"If you're open to it, yeah."

"I was always open to it, Ron. We were best friends since Pre-K. I didn't want that to end even if things didn't work out romantically. I mean, maybe some of the things I did to break up our relationship also hurt our friendship-"

"Some of the things I did too," added Ron.

"Okay, both of us. But I didn't want to lose you completely, Ron. I've missed you."

Ron smiled, and for a moment, the two of them sat on the couch awkwardly, not sure of what to do next. Ron thought about turning on the television, but that seemed a bit flippant somehow. Finally, just before he was about to say something nonsensical to break the silence, he found himself startled by a sudden embrace. As Kim wrapped her arms around him, Ron returned the hug.

They sat there for a moment, truly enjoying each other's company for the first time in a long time, and Ron felt a tear in his eye at what he had lost. Hopefully, however, tonight would be a new beginning. A beginning where both of them could get something back.

"It's too bad things have to be so complicated," said Kim as she withdrew from the hug and tried her best to wipe a tear from her own eye without Ron noticing.

"I guess we make it complicated ourselves," said Ron. "It should be easy. I mean, obviously we both want to be friends again."

"I think so. And you're okay with me and Monique being together?"

"I won't lie," said Ron. "It's still a little bit weird, but that's my problem, and I'm happy with it if you're happy with it. I think you guys are pretty good for each other anyway. So we should definitely try the friends thing again."

"So let's just say it now, okay? We're both going to get over all the drama and be friends again, alright?"

"You got it, KP."

Ron gave her a hug this time, and they embraced for a few moments before they looked over the couch at the sound of the bedroom door opening. Monique tentatively poked her head out.

"You guys done with the sappy stuff in here?" she asked. "I didn't actually have any homework, I just wanted to give you two a minute to figure out the obvious. Can I come back?"

"Of course," laughed Kim. "Sit with us!"

Monique walked over to the couch, a little nervously at first, but she could tell that whatever had just happened was positive. Ron was not covered in claw marks, and Kim was not puffy-eyed or infuriated. Well, she was a little bit puffy-eyed. But she looked happy. They both did.

"Great," said Monique as she sat down and grabbed the remote. "So we can be friends again too, right Ron?"

"Totally!"

"Good. Because man, you've been missing out on some cool stuff while you and Kim were on the outs, so there's a lot to catch up on. You gotta meet our pet birds, for instance. And did you know I work with Steel Toe and Pain King now?"

Ron gaped wordlessly at Monique.

"Yeah, that's about the reaction I was expecting. Ned's their manager, too. We've been playing around with all kinds of new ideas and we're thinking of trying Mexican wrestling-style stuff in the future, if it looks like the fans are into it. Paul and Steve want to expand their repertoire and be a little more theatrical, maybe play more than one character, that kind of thing. We got a show coming up here at Upperton in a week or so, and you're welcome to come check out my mad wrestling fashion styling."

Monique gave her girlfriend a glance to see if Kim was into the idea. She was. "You should so come along," said Kim. "Monique can give us the V.I.P. experience."

Ron pumped his fist in the air. "That sounds so badical! I wonder if Steel Toe and Pain King will remember the time when we all beat Jackie Oakes up when he had that Egyptian talisman on that turned him into a crazy magic superjackal. You think they will?"

"Oh, they do," said Monique. "They even asked about you a couple times."

"Sweet! Maybe I can give them some pointers."

Kim stifled a laugh. It was a bit of Ron's ego flaring up again, which she was well acquainted with. Although her aborted laugh would not have been vindictive, she wanted to try to reign in the sarcasm, especially for tonight. Something was definitely changing, and she could tell that Ron was open to trying to mend the rift between them and move on from the past.

The three of them sat on the couch and lazily watched television – Ron sitting back between Kim and Monique, with a hand spread on the back of the couch behind each of them. It came off amusingly sleazy, but Kim knew Ron was not doing it intentionally. Their conversation had fallen into a deep silence as the television droned on. Kim still felt a little awkward. She had barely spoken to Ron since the breakup, and she didn't exactly know the specifics on how to begin mending a friendship. But she imagined that they were beginning it just by being on the couch, together, right then.

She felt her eyes begin to droop as the television droned on. It was very late, and she had been planning to go to bed as soon as she and Monique got back from her parent's house. But since Ron was here, she would wait a while. She'd probably be totally bushed for classes tomorrow, but it happened sometimes. Especially with the lifestyle she used to lead. And perhaps would be leading again, if she and Ron started going on more missions together. Maybe this last mission hadn't turned out so bad, after all.

"Oh yeah," said Ron, "I forgot to tell you guys. I got a new job!"

XX

The heating in the tiny apartment above the bakery was kept at a low level since Drakken liked to save money, especially with all the funds that were being channeled into their baking operation. The cool apartment air was not enough to chill Hank Perkins, however; he was warm in bed, dressed in pajamas and reading his copy of _The Five Hundred And Seventy Three Habits of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs_. It was late – already early morning, in fact - but he and Drakken had put in a long day in the bakery and Drakken was still up late, doing something. What exactly that something was, Hank did not know.

The two of them had lived in the small apartment above the bakery ever since they opened it in downtown Upperton, since it was the easiest way to focus all their attention on their new enterprise. Drakken had also wanted to try living like a normal person, instead of building his extensive supervillain lairs all the time. Part of the whole 'no longer a supervillain' image that Drakken was creating for himself, Hank supposed.

Even now, Drakken's new self was a work in progress, since he sometimes treated his employees as henchmen and built over-the-top devices like the Bakinator 2000 when a regular oven would do. Hank didn't think there was any point trying to fool anyone when Drakken had blue skin and a scar below his eye. Even in a business suit, his appearance smacked of supervillainy to most casual observers.

"What's going on in there?" he said loudly at the bedroom door, which was ajar. Beyond it lay a hallway that connected to the rest of the apartment's rooms. "I don't think it takes that long to brush your teeth now, does it?"

"I'll be there soon, Perky Werky!"

Hank grunted and returned to his reading. He was enjoying his rest and relaxation time, since he and Drakken had been working themselves to the bone over the last few weeks. It was a pivotal time in their operation – trying to open up new branches, streamlining the centralization process at the warehouse, figuring out who had been disrupting their cupcake shipments. Hank had even spent time at work giving relationship advice to that Monique girl who stopped by. Not only was he an expert in business, law, and general consulting, but he had a knack for relationship counseling as well. Now that the cupcake thief mystery had been solved, they had decided to give themselves a little time off as a reward.

Amazingly enough, the bakery was even closed tomorrow. Hank couldn't remember if it had been closed for a whole day since it opened, other than the day of the unfortunate sewer rat infestation. He was glad the health inspectors had been caught in Upperton traffic that morning. Sometimes downtown parking _did_ work in their favor.

Drakken still hadn't shown up in the bedroom. Hank's curiosity got the better of him, and he shut his book before getting out of bed and walking into the dark hallway outside the bedroom. A light shone from beneath the doorway of the second bedroom, which he and Drakken had converted into a study. Hank poked his head inside and found his boyfriend at the study desk, squinting at a computer monitor and poring over some schematics.

"Working this late?" asked Hank. "I thought we agreed it was time for a break."

"Soon, soon," said Drakken. "I'm just excited to be putting things in motion now that Kim Possible helped us take care of this whole unpleasant business with Shego. Things are finally coming together!"

Hank grinned at Drakken's bubbling enthusiasm. "Well that's swell. With that kind of attitude, we'll really be going places. You're sure hiring that Stoppable fellow was a good idea, though? You know him better than I do, but I was a little surprised you agreed."

"What can I say," said Drakken. "His cupcakes were amazing. He _must_ have some secret that I don't know about, some trick to it. If we keep him close to us, we can find out."

"But what about his being Kim Possible's sidekick? Isn't he a threat? What if he finds out?"

"Maybe," said Drakken. "Or maybe he is a potential ally. He was on the outs with Kim Possible for a while there, and I don't know where they stand now, but you saw him hanging out with Shego when he came to bakery with her. Back in the day, the buffoon wouldn't last five minutes in her company without being ripped to shreds, mark my words! I think perhaps he's being corrupted. Pulled to the dark side. If we can keep him close to us, we can work on him."

Hank nodded. Drakken had been taking some risks lately, some gambles: getting Kim Possible and her tech genius, that Wade fellow, to look for their cupcake thieves was one of them. They had almost exposed themselves in the process, but Drakken had told Hank that a meddlesome teen like Kim Possible would have gone snooping eventually, so it was better to gain her trust by being open and contacting her first. Hank had to admit it was a gutsy move.

Drakken had always been an inventive supervillain. That was part of why Hank found him so fascinating, part of why he had pursued Drakken to work with even though there were more successful supervillains around, like Dementor for instance. It had been even more flattering when, after saving the world, Drakken had come to him in the midst of his existential crisis. Hank was talented, and Drakken recognized talent. He was more cerebral than he was physical, rock hard pecs notwithstanding. From what Drakken had told him about one of his only previous romantic interests – some geneticist named Amy Hall – Drakken tended to develop an interest in people with a brilliant mind, and Hank thought himself no exception to that rule.

As for the nature of Drakken's schemes, Hank could go either way, really. Supervillainy, legitimate business; he was comfortable with both, and often there wasn't much difference anyway. He knew that whatever Drakken chose to do, he just needed someone by his side with a knack for organization and pragmatism. And that was where Hank came in.

"Get some rest," said Hank. "I was thinking we could visit the park tomorrow and feed the ducks at the pond. I know how much you enjoy that."

"You always know just what to say, Hank – I was thinking of that myself!"

Drakken shut down his computer and put away some of his papers, making a few last notes before he got up from his desk and followed Hank into the bedroom.

"Very well, I will take a break tomorrow. But after that, we begin phase two!"

"I didn't know we had phases," said Hank.

"We don't. It was just an expression. Dramatic effect and all."

Hank slipped under the covers and turned off the light, ready to get some shut eye, and Drakken slipped in beside him, giving him a playful pinch in the darkness.

Despite coming to their shop, their warehouse, and having their tech friend snoop around, Kim Possible and her sidekick hadn't discovered anything. And now, if Drakken was correct, maybe the sidekick could prove useful. He was a direct link to Drakken's arch nemesis, after all, and if they could get Ron Stoppable on their side, Kim wouldn't be inclined to suspect them of any wrongdoing.

Not to mention that Stoppable's cupcakes weren't half bad, either.

XX

Ron slipped quietly into his house and eased the door shut behind him, not wanting to wake his parents or his sister. He was just getting back from hanging out with Kim and Monique, where he had spent so long that the sun would soon be up. It was a good thing he didn't have a shift at Smarty Mart tomorrow to worry about anymore. Ron turned from the front door and noticed that the light in his living room was on. He walked in to find his mother and father sitting on the couch.

"Ronald!" said Dean as he got up. "Where have you been?"

"Hey pop – uh, I was on that mission with Kim, but I got back into town earlier today, actually." Ron remembered how he had stopped by his house earlier to get his scooter, only for Shego to shut down any idea of taking a scooter ride and insisting they take the hovercraft instead. "I was too busy to come in and say hi though, sorry."

"I was worried about you, Ronald. You need to call more often!"

"Sorry pop," said Ron as he gave his dad a hug. "But I'm home now."

Ron's mother gave him a hug as soon as her son was free. "Well? How did things go with Kim?"

Ron laughed. His father held a finger up to his mouth and nodded upstairs, indicating that Ron's sister was asleep, and Ron stifled himself quickly. "My bad. Um, things went kind of badly at first, but then they got better. I actually just got back from hanging with her and Monique at their apartment. I think things might be getting a little better between between us."

"That's wonderful!"

"Yeah. Wade's mission was a good idea. It forced me and Kim to think about ourselves a little and get some things out in the open, and it even got me to finally quit my job."

Kim's parents stood stock still, and Ron's smile gradually dissipated before they both opened their mouths simultaneously.

"You _what!_?"

It was Ron's turn to hold a finger to his mouth, admonishing his parents' loud voices.

Dean coughed and spoke in a whisper again. "You quit your job, Ronald? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Oh yeah, I got a new one. I'm working with Drakken now."

Dean frowned.

"Are you referring to the blue man you and Kim were always fighting?"

"Yeah, but he's good now. I think. Either way, it would be a good way to keep an eye on him, and I think I'd have more fun in food service than working at Smarty Mart. I can finally put my mad baking skills into action."

"Well," said Dean hesitantly, "as long as you're sure."

Ron's mother gave her husband's arm a squeeze. "We've been up waiting for you all night, so we're going to get some sleep now," she said.

The two of them went quietly up the stairs. Ron followed behind them, intending to drop on his bed fully clothed and fall unconscious in about two minutes; as they took the stairs ahead of them, he thought he could hear a faint whisper about the wisdom of working for the enemy. He knew they'd come around to his occupational change eventually. Tomorrow, maybe he would sleep all afternoon and enjoy the beginning of his temporary unemployment until the new job at Doctor D Cups began.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting down there," whispered Ron as they reached the top of the stairwell. "I guess I got kind of caught up in things."

Dean shook his head. "It's alright. It sounds like you've had quite an eventful weekend. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

Ron gave his parents another hug as they left for their bedroom, and turned to slip into his own room. As he was dead tired, he laid down on the end of the bed, not even bothering to take off his clothes, turn on the light, or pull a blanket over himself. Hanging out at Kim and Monique's apartment had been a bit strange – filled with awkward silences, a general air that the three of them still needed some time to get used to each other with all their history – but it had been enjoyable at the same time.

It was a start to something good, and Ron knew it would only get better from here on out. They just needed time and understanding. But right now, most of all, Ron needed sleep.

He was about to nod off when Shego sat up in the bed beside him.

"Hey dork."

"_Aaagggh!_"

Ron fell of his side of the bed and hit the floor with a loud thump. Seconds later, the sound of his footsteps running down the hall grew closer as Shego leaped off her own side of the bed and hid from the door as Ron's parents opened it and flipped on the light.

"Ronald! Are you alright? We heard a scream!"

"Yeah, sorry. Just a nightmare, that's all."

"Oh."

Dean Stoppable looked around the room for a moment, and Ron could not resist looking around from his own vantage point where he had fallen on the floor. Fortunately, the room was free of any visible green interlopers. Other than the one who he knew was probably crouching on the far side of his bed.

"Well, good night then."

Ron's parents retreated into the hall. The door closed and the light turned off again, moonlight filtering through the window and casting a dim glow over the bed. Shego got up after a moment and climbed back on the bed, looking down at Ron, who was still laying on the floor. He looked up at his bedroom guest. So he _hadn't_ been imagining her.

"Sorry about that," said Shego. "I broke into your room through the window and went to sleep here."

'"Wha – why?"

"Uh, well, I was still hanging around town and I didn't really feel like paying for a hotel."

"So you just broke into my house uninvited."

Shego nodded patiently, not sure what Ron was getting at.

"Yeah. And?"

Ron gave up trying to make sense of Shego's behavior. He got back into the bed and looked up at the ceiling, tracing shapes in the shadows with his eyes as he wondered how his life had reached the point that one of his most dangerous former enemies was breaking into his room and laying next to him in bed.

Even stranger, he didn't really mind it that much. Shego could be scary, but he was beginning to think maybe she wasn't exactly scary in a bad way. She was pretty hot, after all. And she could be kind of fun to talk to when she wasn't busy trying to destroy him or help Drakken carry out plans of world domination. She was mellowing a little, maybe – Ron thought she could do well if she kept up that trend in the future.

"So what's up with you and Princess?" asked Shego. "You guys patch things up?"

"Seems like it. We're starting to, anyway."

"Nice. So does that mean you two are going to be dropping by and trying to foil my evil plots in the future?"

"I dunno. Are you gonna be plotting evil in the future?"

"I don't know."

Ron frowned. "I thought you said supervillainy wasn't for you," he said.

"Yeah, actually _becoming_ one, but I don't know what that means about my future. Look, it's just a professional pride thing, okay? I'm not going to tell you I've gone soft or something all of a sudden."

Ron found it hard to make sense of Shego. Maybe she had just all but admitted to him that she had gone good, but she had too much pride in her old, hardened self to admit it clearly. Or maybe, he was more inclined to believe, she was still going to be looking out for herself, for her own pleasure, even if it came at the expense of others. But then, maybe he could be a good influence. Maybe he would change her.

Ron groaned and rolled over on his side as he tried to make sense of what Shego wanted. Who she was, why she was laying there in his bed, despite having given him the impression that she was not interested in being in any beds with him after that night on the yacht. She was harder to figure out than Kim. And Kim hadn't been that easy to figure out either.

_ Girls_, he thought with a sigh.

Maybe Shego wasn't being that hypocritical after all. Sure, she was in his bed, but she said she just didn't want to crash at a hotel. It wasn't like she wanted to have se-

"Want to have sex?"

Ron felt a warm hand snake under the covers and give him a sharp pinch in a place where Ron did not like to get pinched, even if it was by a disturbingly seductive green-skinned older lady. He twitched at the pinch and jerked up in bed, his back against the frame. Shego's eyes flickered in the darkness, her dim outline framed by the moonlit window behind her.

"I thought you said that night was the one time."

Shego made a nonchalant noise as she also propped herself up against the back of the bed. "I did say that, I guess. I didn't really want you getting all clingy or anything, what with you being so immature and all that."

Ron coughed indignantly.

"Yeah yeah. You know it's true. I mean, sort of true. I'll admit I was impressed with you dragging me all the way over here to get me to move on from Drakken while you worked things out with Kimmie, and how you took the initiative with that job stuff. Maybe you're not as hopeless as I thought. Did you get that job at Doctor D's bakery, by the way?"

"Yeah. I might not be great at a lot of things, but I know my baking."

Shego tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully.

"I really should try out your cupcakes, if they're actually better than Drakken's."

"So, what, you're saying you want to go out with me?"

"What? No! Definitely not. No way. I was just saying we should enjoy ourselves since we're already here in bed. You weren't bad last time, to be honest. I've always been into the buff types, but you know, they usually just pay attention to themselves, whether it's in bed or anywhere else."

"It could be you're into the wrong buff types," said Ron. "Or maybe you just really liked getting that taste of the Ron man!" he ventured, his attempt at humor coming off with more nervousness than he intended.

Shego rolled her eyes. "Okay, taking it back, no sex."

"Wait, I was kidding!"

Ron sensed that he had talked too much, and the way Shego was sitting made it seem like she was a little hesitant about approaching him again. Maybe he had ruined the moment. Before he could consider whether or not it was a wise course of action, he snaked his own arm under the covers and gave Shego a pinch. She gasped at the unexpected sting.

"Well well," she said. "Not as innocent as you pretend to be, huh Stoppable?"

Ron's answer was muffled by a forceful, predatory kiss. He felt a burst of something thrilling – fear, excitement, the rush of doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing - he wasn't sure, and his mind was turning to mush anyway. Shego grabbed him in the darkness and flung the bedsheets over them as quietly as possible. Just like last time, Ron was getting the distinct impression that Shego always got what she wanted sooner or later. He was just along for the ride.

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - There are two chapters remaining: one dealing with the upcoming wrestling match mentioned a few times in previous chapters, and one dealing with Ron's first night on the job. I could have possibly ended it on this chapter I suppose, although I don't think the last scene would work as an ending scene for the entire story, but either way, two more chapters. It's in keeping with my tradition of continuing stories just a little bit past where could have ended just fine. :-p_


	17. All in the Family

**All in the Family**

XX

Ron got on his scooter and tried to wrestle the engine to life, his first few attempts failing miserably. He was about to begin a very eventful afternoon. Not only was it the day of the wrestling match in Upperton, but it was the first day of his new job. Ron Stoppable: baker. And coffee connoisseur, if Drakken and Hank expected him to handle the coffee there as well. He waved to his father as the scooter's engine finally began to sputter in complaint at being woken up for yet another arduous ride.

Dean stood in his front doorway and waved back at his son.

"Enjoy the afternoon, Ronald!"

"You know I will!"

Rufus, who was sitting in the basket of Ron's scooter, waved at Dean as well.

"See ya!" he squeaked.

Ron drove his increasingly wobbly scooter out of the driveway, wondering how long it would take before the thing fell apart underneath him in the middle of the road. He had saved up enough money from his former Smarty Mart managerial job to afford a cheap car, but Ron wanted to be more responsible with his finances than he had been in the past.

He was trying to act more mature, more responsible in general, after some of the comments people had made to him around that fateful weekend mission with Kim. Not to mention he was a little hesitant about throwing down big money after the way he had squandered his Naco royalty fortune while he was in high school. Ron Stoppable _did_ learn from his mistakes, sometimes. And so, he would be very careful about making a choice when he did finally buy a car for himself. Maybe his parents would even chip in a little bit. It was just too bad he had no idea how to get a hovercraft like the one Shego flew around.

Of course, he could just ask her where she got hers.

It was a little over a week since he and Kim had gone on their mission to the Mediterranean in order to find Drakken's cupcake thieves, and it had been a strange week indeed. Despite Shego's insistence that there was nothing between them, she had showed up in Ron's bedroom a second time, after that first surprising night on the yacht. For a 'booty call', Ron supposed – a phrase he remembered Monique using in jest several years ago.

Not only that, but Shego had actually gotten him to tag along with her in downtown Middleton the other day. Ron had been under the impression they were shopping, but after Shego suddenly made a mad dash out of a department store and dragged him behind her, he realized they were, in fact, shop_lifting_.

The fact that Shego was staying in town instead of going elsewhere seemed to imply there was something between them. Something that was just beginning to blossom, at least. But Ron could not begin to figure out what that something might be. A relationship? Friends with benefits? Shego using him as an amusing human toy to play with and discard once she got bored?

Whatever it was, Ron was surprised to find himself both concerned and thrilled by it. It was different, new, even a little bit dangerous, and it gave Ron a bit of that feeling he had gotten when he decided to play up the bad boy image for a little while in high school. Hopefully he wouldn't turn into Zorpox again, though. Ron smiled. He'd have to keep an eye on Shego in case she unexpectedly pulled out an Attitudinator helmet.

"Eek! Rrr, here!"

Ron looked down at Rufus as he clambered onto the scooter's handlebars and waved his hands to get Ron's attention, precariously balanced on his hind legs. His thoughts broken, Ron looked up and noticed that he had just passed the Possible residence. He backed the scooter up for a few moments and stopped, balancing the scooter with one foot on the ground, as he stared at the house.

"Ready for some fun, Rufus?"

Ron's pet naked mole rat nodded enthusiastically. Ron had been amazed at how quickly the mole rat had become friendly with Kim again, seeing as Rufus had been estranged from Kim for as long as Ron had been, choosing to side with him after the nasty breakup. In retrospect, Ron realized Rufus didn't have to do that, but he supposed the break from Kim had been as awkward for Rufus as it had been for him. Fortunately, it appeared that a trip or two to Bueno Nacho and a few hours around Kim were enough to win Rufus over again. He was easy to please.

For Ron, however, things had remained a little awkward ever since he had come to Kim and Monique's apartment last week and agreed to try to be friends with the two of them again. Of course, Ron didn't expect things to change in an instant. He knew it took time. After that night at the apartment, a couple of days had passed before anyone called each other, and finally Ron had given Kim and Monique a call to eat lunch with him at Bueno Nacho. Rufus had joined them. Apparently, neither Kim nor Ron when it was appropriate to start calling each other casually again. The Bueno Nacho lunch, although pleasant, had been a little on the quiet side, but that first call had broken the ice a little more, and the three of them – four, counting Rufus - had hung out twice since then.

Now, however, it was time for Ron to reunite with Kim's family.

He had been estranged from them about as long as he had been apart from Kim, even though it hadn't been as intentional on his part, and going to see Monique's new fashions at the wrestling match between Steel Toe and Pain King was the first good opportunity to try to break the ice with them as well. He took a deep breath and told himself they would be happy to see him. Rufus scampered up onto his shoulder as he parked the scooter in their driveway and approached the front door.

"Ron Stoppable!" exclaimed James, who had opened the door a split second after Ron knocked. "It's about time!"

"Hey Mr. Dr. P. Long time no see, huh?"

"Come on in! Kim and Monique are already here."

Ron had barely stepped into the house when Jim and Tim thundered around a corner and leaped on him like wolves after prey. As they were getting quite a bit bigger than they were when Ron last saw them, their enthusiastic hugs were enough to knock Ron over, but he miraculously managed to keep on his feet as he stumbled back.

"Where have you been, Ron?" asked Tim.

Jim punched him on the arm. "Yeah, you missed so much! All the time, I was like 'hey Tim, let's go tie up Ron and try this new blaster on him', and then we realized you hadn't stopped by in months. What's the deal?"

"Sorry," said Ron. "It's kind of hard to explain."

Jim and Tim rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Relationship drama."

"Haha – yeah, basically. But hey, I'm here now."

"Yeah," said Jim, "but we don't want to freak you out now that you're back. So don't worry, we're gonna be well behaved. No surprises today."

Tim pulled his brother away as the two of them raced back from wherever they had come, trying and failing to restrain themselves from laughing in an extremely ominous way. Ron sighed; the twins were definitely looking a little bigger now, but clearly they had not changed very much since he last saw them. He entered the kitchen to find Kim and Monique chatting with Anne Possible as they looked at a brochure for the upcoming wrestling tournament. A plate of appetizers was set in the middle of the table.

"Pretty festive," said Ron as he looked at the appetizers. Before he could grab one, he found himself crushed yet again by an unexpected hug, this time from Kim's mother.

"Ronald Dean Stoppable, look at you!"

Anne looked over Ron.

"Well, I suppose you look the same, but it feels like it's been forever since I last saw you. And please, help yourself," she added as she noticed Ron looking at the appetizers.

"Mm!" squeaked Rufus as he took the liberty of interpreting Anne's invitation as being directed at himself. He leaped down onto the kitchen table and about a third of the appetizers disappeared before anyone knew quite what had happened.

"Nice to see you again too, Rufus," said Anne.

Ron helped himself to a cracker topped with garden-dill flavored spread and some sliced carrot ribbons. "I guess I'll have a few," he said, feeling his resolve crumbling even after eating just one, "but I should try to restrain myself. I mean, half the fun in going to a wrestling match at that Upperton Arena is all the cheap food they have set up in those stands, right?"

"You know your stuff," said Monique. "Been there before, I guess?"

Ron winked. "What kind of a wrestling fan would I be if I hadn't?"

"Well, you ain't seen nothin' until you come this afternoon!" said Monique. "We got some big changes going on, me and Ned and Steve and Paul. We've been working pretty hard on trying to shake up the show a little bit."

Ron was looking forward to seeing what Monique had been doing with her passion for wrestling and fashion, but even more than that, he was looking forward to seeing Steel Toe and Pain King in person again. It would be exciting, no doubt about it.

"So Ronald," said James as he sat down at the table and grabbed his own appetizer, "what have you been up to lately? I hear you have a new job?"

"Sure do! I'll be starting tonight. I haven't been up to much besides that."

"Been dating any lucky ladies lately?"

Anne gave her husband a light cuff on the head, causing a couple of crumbs to spray from his mouth and out onto the table.

"No," said Ron, "I've just been taking it easy on the romance front lately."

Ron did not mind the question, but he felt a little awkward about not telling the truth. Maybe it wasn't a complete lie, to be honest – he wasn't really sure whether he was dating Shego or not, when it came right down to it. Either way, Ron wasn't ready to let the cat out of the bag when it came to his interactions with her. He wasn't sure how Kim would react, but he could imagine it making the reconciliation between them harder than it had to be, and while he intended to tell her eventually, he didn't want to break the news just yet. It would be easier to talk about when Ron himself had some idea of what was going on with Shego, after all.

"Are you and Kim planning on more missions together?"

"It's up to Kim," said Ron. "But I think so."

Kim smiled and nodded. "As long as they aren't cupcake-related."

"Well," said James, "so much for my daughter focusing on her studies and staying out of death-defying battles with supervillains."

Kim shrugged sheepishly, but James gave his daughter a good-natured pat on the back. He was never completely comfortable with the idea of his Kimmie-cub putting herself in harm's way, but it had been such an ingrained part of her personality, her life, that he had expected her to return to it sooner or later. And he felt more comfortable with her doing it when Ron Stoppable was by her side.

Not to mention that he knew going on missions and helping others made his daughter happy, which mattered more to him than anything else. If only she had taken up a hobby like stamp collecting. Or sewing, although he didn't like the look of those huge needles.

"Hey Ron, check it out!"

Ron, who had been gorging himself on appetizers before Rufus could eat the rest, looked up just in time to duck as a small rocket flew past him in a blur. The rocket smashed through the kitchen window behind him with a loud shatter as Jim and Tim stood sheepishly at the kitchen entrance, holding a remote controller between them.

'"Jim! Tim!"

The twins quailed under the angry gaze of their father.

"It's not my fault!" said Tim. "I just wanted to show Ron our trash-powered rocket and Jim grabbed the controller!"

"No way," said Jim as he slapped his brother on the head. "You just put the wrong kind of trash in there. We still have to work out a few kinks to make sure it doesn't randomly speed up and go out of control sometimes. Sorry about that, Ron."

"That would have been so cool," Ron had to admit. "If it wasn't about to knock my head off."

Jim fiddled with the remote, trying to bring the rocket back into the house from the yard, but unfortunately he only succeeded in knocking a little more of the glass pane out as it bounced back off the window frame and into the yard again.

"It's getting there," he said. "We're working on how to convert assorted trash into a reliable fuel source-"

"-so we can take all the junk human beings throw away and use it to power vehicles and stuff!" finished Tim. "That way we take care of two problems at once! We're working on a way to use almost anything, and just filter out trash that can't be converted, but right now organic trash works best."

"Food waste disposal that powers cars and encourages less walking around," mused Monique "Is it just me, or is that just gonna make everybody even fatter?"

"Way to look at the glass as half empty," said Jim. "Sheesh!"

"Alright boys," said James. "You'll be in trouble for that window later, but I'm in a good mood at the moment, and we need to get ready for this wrestling match at the Upperton Arena." He checked his watch. "It's getting about that time, and I know Monique wants to take Ron to meet with the wrestlers beforehand."

"I still can't believe you convinced me to come along," said Anne. "I just don't understand the appeal."

James gave his wife a peck on the cheek as she stood up after picking up a few glass shards that had been knocked onto the kitchen floor. "What can I say," he said, "after watching a few matches on television with the boys, it was a little more exciting than I expected. It's no _Captain Constellation_, but I can see why they like it. Now, is everyone ready to go?"

The twins looked like they were antsy enough to race out of the door and into the Possible family car, and Kim smiled as Monique and Ron got up from the kitchen table and gave each other high fives in anticipation of the upcoming match. James and Anne grabbed jackets and car keys as they headed for the door. Kim, Ron, and Monique would be taking Kim's Sloth to save room.

"Let's get a move on!" said James.

Ron pumped his fist as they left the house.

"Booyah!"

XX

The parking lot at the Upperton Arena was even worse than the parking downtown. Angry pedestrians on their way to the Arena shook their fists at vehicles driving a little too fast in their attempts to snag the last remaining empty spots, and the parking lot was filled to the brim with the sounds of honking, chattering, and the occasional cursing. Kim's parents and the twins had stayed in their car to try to find a spot, after which they would get to the seats they had already bought tickets for.

Monique gave a security guard a smile and a nod as she led Kim and Ron through a side door that led into the Arena's offices and back rooms. Steve Toeller, Paul King, and their manager, Ned, would probably be in the prep room by now, getting ready for the match and going over their routine one last time. Monique wanted to take Ron to say hi to them.

They reached the prep room after a few twists and turns to find Ned talking to the two wrestlers. The room was packed to the brim with set decorations, and Ron noticed several other burly-looking people standing around, as well as a couple of elaborate costumes. He could already tell this would be no ordinary wrestling match. But the room itself was not what caught his attention.

"Steel Toe! Pain King! Dudes, do you guys remember me?"

"Oh yeah," said Steve. "You're Kim Possible's sidekick, right? Ron Stoppable."

"You remembered my name!"

"Why wouldn't we?" said Paul as he adjusted his costume in the crotch area, which forced Ron – despite his great excitement – to temporarily avert his eyes. He noticed Kim grimacing as well, but Monique had no reaction. Maybe she was used to seeing awkwardness like that. "You helped us take down Jackie Oakes when he went super jackal on us."

"True," said Ron. "You guys totally lucked out when I figured out that whole thing."

"Excuse me," said Kim with a cough, "I believe I did most of that?"

Ron grumbled and crossed his arms.

"Okay," said Kim with a smile, "you helped just a little."

Paul took Ron aside and began to chat about the upcoming match and the possibility of Ned surprising them with any ancient talismans and papyrus spells he had found to transform himself into a hulking beast. While they were talking, Steve spoke to Kim and Monique in a whisper. "So I see that you and Ron have made up?" he asked Kim.

"Yeah, we have. I guess Monique's been giving you the TDU's, huh?"

"TDU's?"

"Total Drama Updates."

Monique squeezed her girlfriend's shoulder, proud to see Kim successfully using one of her acronyms.

"Uh, yeah, she has. Hope you don't mind. And the two of you are okay as well?" he said, indicating Kim and Monique with his eyes.

"Yeah, we are," said Kim. "And thanks for talking to Monique over the weekend."

Steve laughed and punched Monique playfully on the arm, which was meant to be light, but ended up nearly sending her sprawling across the floor. "Oops," he said, "Sorry about that. But yeah, it's no problem. Paul and I always enjoy shopping with Monique – I don't know how we'd ever find any great deals without her."

"How did that dress you bought for the wife go down, by the way?" asked Monique. "I hope you haven't spilled a smoothie on that one too?"

"Not yet. She said it didn't match any of her other outfits at all. But that's her way of saying she likes something. I can tell by the eyes."

Monique nodded, glad that her advice had come in handy. And she had chosen the dress that Steve ultimately bought because it would go with almost anything, so she knew that by her restraint, Steve's wife was just making sure she didn't give her husband the wrong idea about it being okay to spill smoothies on perfectly good outfits.

"So, you guys ready for the match?"

Ned appeared in between the two wrestlers and attempted to wrap an arm around each of their shoulders in a sort of gesture of camaraderie. As he barely reached their chests, this proved to be completely futile.

"I believe we have worked out quite an interesting routine," Ned told Monique. "With your help of course. Tonight, we're going to shake things up! I think you will be quite excited about it, Ron Stoppable."

"Bueno Nacho has never been the same without you, dude," said Ron. "You should see the new guy they have as manager over there. The first time I saw him, he didn't even know I made the Naco! It's like working at Club Banana and not knowing who Coco Banana is, right Monique?"

"Absolutely," she agreed.

"That sounds like a serious breach of Bueno Nacho protocol," admitted Ned. "But as I am no longer working there, I cannot help you! I've found a new passion in wrestling management."

"I can understand. I found a job recently myself."

"Perhaps you should stop by the comic shop and play some board games with us," said Ned. "Kim's cousin Larry always said that your knowledge of _Crypts and Creatures_ was sorely lacking compared to his own, but the fact that Larry would mention you at all implies that he thinks you must be highly skilled. And now that he's off with his internet startup, we could use a new player."

"Definitely," said Ron. He was glad to get the invitation, as he had not made a lot of friends in Middleton ever since he had graduated from high school. He was glad to get Kim and Monique's companionship back, and hanging out with Ned and some of his geeky friends – although perhaps awkward at times – sounded like it would be fun too.

"Alright," said Monique. "I think we'd better let these guys get ready for their match. Kim, how about we join your family up in the stands."

"Sounds good to me. Are you ready, Ron?"

"Sure. Nice to meet you guys again!"

Steve and Paul said goodbye to their visitors as they returned to their preparations with Ned and several other prep room occupants who seemed like they would be playing a role in the upcoming match. Ron followed Kim and Monique out into the din and roar of the arena itself, which was already filled nearly to the brim with excited fans. Ron took a look at several of the snack stands set up farther away in the domed arena and licked his lips.

"Hey guys," he said, "I'm gonna go over there and get some snacks for everybody. Make sure nobody steals my seat, okay?"

Kim nodded as she and Monique looked around the rows and rows of seats arching up beyond the roped off ring in the center of the room. There was an endless sea of faces, and it took several moments for them to find where Kim's family had seated themselves, even though they already knew their seat numbers. The two of them picked through the yelling crowds as they made their way slowly up to the row in which they were sitting.

"This is loud," Anne told Monique as she arrived with her daughter.

Monique smiled apologetically. "It's only gonna get louder."

Kim and Monique settled down in their seats as the crowd continued to roar, obviously getting a little impatient for the match to begin. They did not have long to wait; a few moments later, the lights in the arena began to dim, and contrary to Monique's warning, the crowd's roar began to die down as people looked around and chattered to each other in excitement. Something in the air was unusual, different.

The arena was dark, but another set of overhead floodlights switched on and cast their glow over the ring in the center of the vast room. For a few moments, the crowd waited in anticipation as they watched the ring's bare white floor. Just when it looked like nothing was going to happen, Pain King stepped into the ring.

"Hello, everybody!"

The crowd was a little confused by his direct greeting, but a number of people waved and returned his greeting. Kim stared down at the wrestler, surprised to see that he was dressed in his normal Pain King costume. She had been expecting to see one of Monique's Mexican wrestling-inspired outfits on him instead.

"I'm glad to be here in Upperton after such a long break in my wrestling career. You guys look like quite a crowd tonight!"

The crowd roared its approval, even though the fans in the arena were not used to such a friendly opening monologue.

"I have to admit," said Pain King, "I had a little bit of an existential crisis a while ago. I was tired of losing so many matches to that chump Steel Toe, tired of always coming out in second. If it wasn't for that steel toe of his, he'd have no chance against me! I could crush him like a bug!"

The crowd's roar grew louder in response, a mixture of cheers and boos depending on which fans were responding to Pain King's posturing. Pain King paced around the ring as he continued.

"So I took a trip to the ancient Totanac ruins of Teotihuacan in Mexico, on a sort of spiritual journey. I meditated there, trying to find my purpose in life. I needed to ask myself some important questions: who am I, really? What does it mean to be a Pain King?"

Kim leaned over to Monique. "This is getting pretty philosophical," she said.

"Ned's idea."

"Before long," continued Pain King, "I realized that I had one purpose in life. One calling, which I-"

"_YOU!_"

Pain King whirled around at the sound of a booming voice coming from the darkness that extended past the floodlights illuminating the ring itself. The crowd, which had been growing a little restless at the wrestler's speech, sat at rapt attention. As they watched, a figure walked out of the shadows. Much larger than Pain King, dressed in an elaborate costume of feathers and sinuous scales, it looked like a cross between a bird and a serpent.

"Who are you?" asked Pain King. "What do you want?"

"I am the ancient feathered serpent god known to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl!" shouted the hulking figure. "You have stolen a sacred talisman from one of my places of worship, and I demand that you return it to me _IMMEDIATELY!_"

Pain King backed away, his expression of shock turning into a look that was grim and resolute. "I can never return it," he said. "I must have its power!"

"Then I have no choice," spoke the beast. "Prepare to be destroyed!"

Kim was just starting to wonder where Ron had gone off to, as he was about to miss some exciting stuff, when she saw his outline appear in the darkness of the arena, trying to make his way through the crowd and balance a heaping armful of snacks without spilling it on his fellow wrestling fans. Kim gritted her teeth as he smacked into her knee on his way to his empty seat.

"Snack time!" he said as he sat down. "Help yourselves."

Jim and Tim managed to beat Rufus in grabbing their own snacks, while Kim helped herself. She watched Ron in the darkness, and as the two figures in the ring grappled each other, she could tell that he was in heaven. She had to admit that the wrestling was more interesting than she remembered. Maybe Monique and Ned really _did_ know how to spice things up a little.

"Haha – did you see that? He got totally body slammered!" she said as she pointed at Pain King.

"It's body slammed, KP."

"My bad."

Ron, who was sitting on her right, leaned over Kim to talk to Monique, who was sitting on her left. "When do we get to see the luchadore costumes and masks?" he asked.

"Soon. Steel Toe is going to appear as an ally of the feathered serpent god, at least at first, and they're going to morph into their Mexican wrestler forms after they sink into some hidden compartments beneath the ring. See the laser light boxes and dry ice machines we've got set up down there to hide them when they do?" she asked, pointing to a few boxes that could barely be seen on the outskirts of the ring of light created by the overhead lighting.

"This is totally badical!" said Ron.

The crowd was cheering louder now, and Kim was having trouble hearing the conversation anymore, but she caught a glimpse of her mother in the darkness. She was sitting on the other side of Ron, and she leaned in close as the match raged on. "I'm glad you're here with us, Ron," she said to him. "We've missed you."

"Thanks Mrs. Dr. P. I missed you guys too."

Kim sat back and munched on a bag of nearly-stale popcorn as she enjoyed the match. The wrestling was good, especially since both Ron and Monique were enjoying it. But being surrounded by the people she cared about the most was even better. The best, really. Ron was back, and her family – her whole family – was together again.

XX

* * *

_**Notes** - There is one chapter remaining. I will probably post it tomorrow since this chapter and the next were originally one chapter, but I thought it was long and clearly divided into two separate settings, and the next chapter has one remaining sort-of-twist. Hope you liked this one. :)_


	18. Secret Ingredients

**Secret Ingredients**

XX

"Finding everything alright, um – what was your name again?"

Ron looked back at Drakken in irritation. The two of them would probably be doddering old men someday, assuming Drakken was still alive, and still he would not remember Ron's name. Even the name tag that he and Hank had given Ron when he arrived for work read 'Rob Snoggable.' Something about the last name in particular seemed obscene, although Ron couldn't put his finger on it.

"Stoppable, Drakken. Ron Stoppable. And yeah, I'm finding everything alright."

"Don't need another tour of the facility?" asked Drakken. Hank Perkins walked into the employee room, and the sound of loud chatter reached them for a moment before the employee door swung shut again. "It sounds like it's pretty busy out there, so we want to make sure you're not falling behind."

"I'm fine," said Ron. "Just keep taking the cupcakes out for me so I can focus on the baking."

Ron was amazed at how much he had to bake in order to feed the customers of the little bakery and cafe. The place had already been popular enough when he visited it before, but it seemed as if word of mouth had been picking up exponentially, unless Drakken and Hank had been picking up their advertising as well. The first day of any new job was stressful, but Ron was enjoying himself, and he had Rufus there with him for company and a little culinary help. Still, he felt a little bit like a cog in an assembly line; the Bakinator 2000 spitting out cupcakes on one end, customers inhaling them on the other.

Upon arriving at the bakery for his first day at work, Ron had been surprised to find that Drakken and Hank had taken some of his suggestions from the other week to heart. The cupcakes – or D Cups – were still the shop's signature item, but they were baking numerous other items as well: croissants filled with chocolate, strawberry, and cream cheese; danishes topped with powdered sugar and artistically dribbled stripes of white chocolate; coffee cake, topped with a crust of crumbling brown sugar. Most of it had been stomach-churningly bad when Ron had arrived, however. The stand-in baker that they had working there, Assad Sacke, clearly did not know what he was doing. Apparently Drakken and Hank had been fortunate in hiring Ron when they did, as they were short on bakers.

"This is so much more exciting than being an operations manager," said Assad as he watched Ron working. He had attempted to pitch in earlier, but Ron had quickly told him just to fetch ingredients when needed and take some of the baked goods out to the customers. "And there's much less risk of being crushed by heavy equipment here."

"Don't get too excited, Assad," said Drakken. "We're still going to be expanding now that Kim Possible put an end to our thieving troubles, and we'll need you back at the warehouse now that we've got Stoppable to help us with the baking."

"Sir, I'm just so happy that you have given me the opportunity to-"

"Yes yes, very well!"

Drakken propped open the door to the employee room and looked out into the dining area, speaking briefly to one of his employees standing behind the counters.

"Don – I mean Ron, Ron Stoppable," he said, looking back into the employee area, "we need some more cupcakes with blueberry frosting. Those are going like hotcakes!"

"You mean cupcakes," said Assad.

"No, I do not. It's an expression. Hotcakes."

"We sell hotcakes here? How fast are those going?"

"What? No, I meant that – _Nnnngh!_"

Ron looked at the high-tech table containing the cooled trays of frosting that he used to top his cupcakes, but noticed that the blueberry frosting was used up. Drakken wasn't kidding about them being popular. No matter; Ron would just have to make some more. He grabbed a sampling spoon to take a taste of another batch of frosting and noticed it was seriously lacking in flavor. Assad had probably prepared the frosting earlier in the day. Maybe Ron would have to remake all the batches and be done with it.

"Good?" asked Rufus as Ron put down the sampling spoon. Ron shook his head emphatically.

"No. Bad, very bad."

He opened up a cupboard that contained a number of ingredients and toppings for his baked goods, including the flavorings and food coloring used for the frosting. A row of glass tubes filled with multicolored fluids stood on a shelf near his eye level, looking a lot like a supervillain's laboratory equipment. Ron read the labels on each tube, going from left to right. Strawberry, banana, apple. Asparagus, for some bizarre reason – Drakken must have been experimenting and forgotten to remove that one. Chocolate, vanilla. And there it was: blueberry.

Before Ron grabbed it from the flavoring tray, however, Rufus began to chatter on his shoulder. A claw pointed out at the tray of flavorings, and Ron followed its path to another flavor, just after blueberry. Rufus gave a little squeal, which Ron interpreted as suspicion. He read the label: H.O.O.K.

Ron had never heard of that flavor before.

Rufus scampered onto the shelf and peered more closely at the vial of flavoring as Ron looked at a smaller subscript on the label, which read 'Habitual Olfactory Obligation Keeper.' For a moment, he wondered if the 'hook' was a reference to the flavoring tasting like some kind of seafood, but as he thought about the full name, he began to realize that it was no ordinary flavoring.

"Whoah!" said Drakken as he slammed the cupboard's door shut and placed himself between it and Ron. "That was nothing. Just an experimental flavoring we're going to throw away."

"Wait a minute," said Ron. "Olfactory Obligation? That's talking about your nose, right?"

Rufus pointed at his own nose for emphasis and agreement.

"I have no idea what you mean."

"What was that stuff?"

"It was nothing, nothing at all. You've got a lot of baking to do."

Ron frowned. Clearly something was up, and the name of that substance was beginning to set off alarm bells in his head. He knew that Kim, Monique, and Wade would be arriving at the bakery soon, as he had invited them to stop by on his first day of work.

"Well, I think Kim should take a look at that," said Ron as he began to back towards the employee door.

Hank Perkins, who had been out in the dining area momentarily, came back through the door to see Drakken give him a hasty glance and a nod in Ron's direction. Hank caught wind of what was going on and blocked the door.

"Now, hold on just one moment," said Drakken. "Look, I'll tell you what it is, but it's no big deal. It's just a little something we've been adding to the cupcakes in order to make sure we get more repeat customers. It's a little droplet of liquid that we place on our baked goods to give them a little fragrance-based pizazz that hooks our customers.

"So it's a drug?"

"That's such a crude word," said Drakken. "So many things could be called drugs, really."

"Computer games," suggested Hank. "Or diversifying stock portfolios."

Ron looked askance at Hank for a moment before continuing with his line of questioning. "Is it illegal?" he asked Drakken. "Worse than caffeine or something?"

"Oh no! It's harmless to human beings. I believe. There should be no side effects based on our testing, and as for the legality, these things tend to be gray areas. Who really needs a meddlesome government agency like the F.D.A. getting involved in things like this, after all? Have they ever helped anyone, really?"

"I don't get it," said Ron. "Wade did a scan of one of your cupcakes and he didn't find anything. He said it was just a normal cupcake."

"Oh yes, we made sure of that," said Drakken. "I was foolish the first couple of times Wade visited the shop, and we gave him cupcakes with the formula applied to them. I realized my mistake after I briefed you all on the situation during your first visit, but I did not remember your little friend taking any cupcakes to go, so I hoped we were safe - and sure enough, nothing happened. After that, I told my employees not to apply the formula to any cupcakes if they saw that meddlesome boy arrive in the shop. I've even got his photo pasted up behind the counter! He's come in once or twice since then, but even if he managed to get any samples, they were just normal cupcakes.

"Besides," said Drakken indignantly, "who says your tech genius friend can detect my H.O.O.K? You don't think I designed it to be hard to detect? Your friend may be a genius, but so am I!"

"You certainly are," said Hank, fluttering his eyelashes as he continued to guard the employee door in case Ron decided to make a break for it.

"Okay, even if Wade didn't find out," said Ron, "I've seen both of you eating cupcakes. Are you saying you just eat uncontaminated ones?"

"Oh, actually we're both addicted to the substance," said Drakken. "That was unintentionally part of our testing, actually. We just forgot which cupcakes were the control group and which were the ones our employees got to eat. Just a little advice, but never create a dangerous formula without having the antidote invented beforehand."

"You said a _dangerous_ formula?"

"Did I say that? Haha, no, I meant harmless. They're very similar words. But see here, if you tell Kim Possible about this, we'll be shut down! You'll lose this job just as soon as you took it. Do you really want that, Stoppable?"

Drakken had a point, and Ron paused as he thought about it. He had just gotten the job, and didn't want to fall into unemployment after making such a risky career move by quitting Smarty Mart. Not to mention that Drakken could be right – maybe the substance _was_ harmless. Caffeine was widely accepted and legal, after all, and if Drakken had been using the substance on the cupcakes until now, that explained why Kim and Monique and all the others had been so enthusiastic about them. Actually, Ron realized, it meant that he was addicted to the cupcakes himself. His baking was just so good that he still preferred his own supply.

And yet, Ron knew he couldn't trust Drakken and Hank now that he had discovered their little secret ingredient. He couldn't take their word for it – at the least, Wade needed to run tests on it and make sure it was safe. Ron needed to tell Kim Possible, as soon as she arrived. He began to walk towards the employee door when Hank backed up, keeping his body against it. The door shook for a second as an employee on the other side tried to walk through, only to smack into it and drop to the ground with a grunt and a thud.

"Oops," spoke Hank through the door. "Sorry, impromptu management meeting in here!"

"Hey, am I a prisoner?" said Ron, feeling a little nervous. "I'd like to take my fifteen minutes now!"

"Yeah, rrr – move!" squeaked Rufus.

"Just wait one moment," said Drakken. "Of course you can leave, but – okay, how about this. I promise you that we won't use the substance anymore. Deal?"

Drakken approached Ron and extended a hand. Ron stared at it suspiciously.

"It's that easy? How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"You're the one who makes the cupcakes here, correct? We've been putting it on the frosting with an eye dropper after they're ready – you'd know if we were using H.O.O.K! We haven't been using it tonight because I wanted to ease you into the idea a little more slowly. But I did not anticipate you finding the formula while it was still being kept out in the open in the cupboard like that, _Hank_," he said as he gave his boyfriend a pointed glare. Hank shrank in embarrassment.

"So no more addictive cupcake drugs?"

"That's right. We hired you because of your baking skills anyway, did we not? It's not like we need it anymore – you're just that good! We'll give up using the substance, you keep baking, and we all win."

Ron thought about the proposition. Drakken was a tricky character, but he did want to keep the job. And he _could_ keep an eye on his supposedly non-villainous employers while he was working here. Maybe Drakken and Hank had not given up the path of evil quite as much as it had appeared at first. But at least for the moment, they seemed to be willing to concede to Ron's demands.

"Alright then," said Ron. "No more H.O.O.K. And I'll keep it to myself, for now. You guys did a good job deciding to diversify your baked goods beyond just cupcakes and make them fresh-baked on the premises instead of trying to mass produce them, but you still need to run this place less like a supervillain lair."

"Oh yes," said Drakken as he laughed nervously. "Certainly. It just takes a little time to get past the old habits. But that's why we have you, right? And we're hoping you'll train the chefs at our other branches once those are up and running. This is probably going to be our busiest location, unless we can get an edge on the competition in Go City, so it's likely we'll keep you working here. But your baking expertise will serve us well. And I see promotions in the near future, Ron Stoppable."

Ron was impressed that Drakken had actually remembered his name. "Promotions?" he asked.

"Oh yes, certainly. You could be sort of a head chef for our entire store chain if you do a good job here."

Ron had to admit that the idea was appealing. He knew Drakken was trying to flatter him, but, Ron had to admit – the man was doing a good job of it. At least he acknowledged the superiority of Ron's baking skills to any cheap addictive formula created in a laboratory.

"Okay then, you'd better get on with that blueberry frosting," said Drakken as he motioned for Hank to join him at the far end of the employee room.

Ron and Rufus reluctantly returned to their baking duties, Rufus helping grab ingredients for Ron as he focused on remaking the frosting batches. Hank left the door hesitantly after deciding that Ron was not going to dash out and spill their secret to his red-haired partner in do-goodery. He sidled up to Drakken as the two of them watched their new employee and his strange rodent pet going to work.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he whispered to Drakken. "He knows our secret now!"

"It's alright," said Drakken. "I believe we can corrupt him. We just need time, and I bought some for us. We'll stop using H.O.O.K. for now, but I believe he will eventually be convinced. Maybe you could drum up some fake charts and graphs, tell him it's harmless. What do you think?"

Hank nodded in excitement. He loved charts and graphs, especially if they were misleading ones.

"The boy may be a good baker," said Drakken, "but he'll be even better if we give his precious baked goods a little chemical boost. This is no whole foods store, after all. Why depend on the fruits of nature when we can pervert its laws and add our own synthetic touch?"

Hank wrung his hands together in gleeful excitement, nodding in agreement.

"I think Stoppable must have some kind of secret ingredient of his own, after all. There's no way his baking can be better than my cupcakes enhanced with H.O.O.K. That buffoon has got to have something up his sleeve. And mark my words – now that he's working for us, we will find out what it is soon enough."

XX

The Possible family was back home from the Upperton Arena, having been blown away by the wrestling match. All of them agreed that Monique, Ned, Steve, and Paul had outdone themselves - and judging by the crowd's reaction, the new show would be a hit once the G.W.A. gave everyone the go-ahead to take it onto the road. Monique and the rest of Kim's family were downstairs, but Kim was up in her room changing clothes, since an unruly fan had spilled soda all over her outfit. She would need a new one if she was going out to the bakery tonight.

Kim put on a fresh shirt as she thought about the match. Although it wasn't her passion, she could definitely see why wrestling appealed to Ron and Monique. It had a certain campy, theatrical air, filled with drama and surprises. Almost like some of the _Agony County_ episodes Kim liked to watch, although featuring much more musclebound male leads who tended to resolve their differences with piledrivers and suplexes peppered in between their emotional tirades. She wondered if Monique would have to go on the road with their wrestling routine. Kim decided it was unlikely. Ned was a more likely candidate as Steve and Paul's manager, and it would interfere with Monique's classes as well. And, most importantly, Kim would miss her too much.

After putting on her fresh outfit, Kim took a moment to sit in her room and enjoy a little peace and quiet after the cacophony of the wrestling match. She could hear her girlfriend and family downstairs, still pumped up by the match from the sound of it, although Ron had already left to start the first day of his new job at Drakken's bakery. She and Monique would be going there to visit him soon, and Wade would also be tagging along.

A framed photo on Kim's desk caught her eye, and she stood up from the bed and walked over to look at it. The photo had been taken during her high school graduation. In it, she and Ron stood side by side in their graduation gowns, holding their diplomas and waving excitedly at the camera. Kim smiled at Ron's goofy expression. She knew that neither one of them had anticipated the course their life would take afterwards. Some things were different now – but, now that Ron and her missions seemed to be coming back into her life, maybe things weren't so different after all.

A voice trailed up from the stairway that led into her loft room.

"Honey!" her mother shouted down below. "Are you up there?"

"Yes mom!"

"Wade just got here!"

Kim put down the photo and went down the stairs to rejoin her friends and family. Wade was in the kitchen with her parents and Monique, but Jim and Tim were missing. Judging by the sickening crunching sound that had just come from the living room, Kim guessed her brothers were trying out some of the wrestling moves they had seen earlier that day.

"Wade," said Monique, "you been workin' out lately?"

Wade laughed nervously. "I do get out and walk a little more. Thanks for noticing!"

Monique noticed Kim arriving in the room and gave her a wink before turning back to Wade. "Me likey," she said as she looked him over.

"Stop corrupting him," said James as he teased Monique with an eye roll and led Wade away. "Now Wade, you're still on to help us out with the new propulsion system at the Middleton Space Center next week, correct? I have a new formula I think you'll enjoy seeing in action!"

"Definitely, sir."

Kim looked at the wall clock. They hadn't told Ron when they would be arriving, but she didn't want to keep him waiting too long – it was his first day, and he might need a little encouragement just in case it was stressful. A more selfish reason that Kim was in a rush to leave was so she could avoid her brothers inevitably attempting to use a wrestling move against her. Not that they would succeed, but she didn't want to give the two of them sore backs for the rest of the night when their move backfired and end up getting admonished by her parents.

"You guys ready to go?" she asked Wade and Monique.

"Ready when you are!"

Kim grabbed a jacket in case it was cold outside while Wade and Monique said goodbye to her parents.

"We're going out now," she told her parents before leaving the kitchen.

"Just as long as you aren't going out with any _boys_," said James.

"Very funny, dad."

XX

A baker's hat and apron lay discarded on a stainless steel table in the employee area, even though there was a rack for uniforms in the dressing area. The doors opened as Ron walked into the restaurant itself with a tray heaped to the brim with fresh-baked cupcakes of all varieties. Baked with his special touch, and certainly not with any synthetic enhancements. He arrived at the booth where Kim, Monique, and Wade had been chatting and drinking some coffee as they waited for their snacks and placed the tray in the center as he took his own seat.

"I've got fifteen minutes to hang out before I get back to work," he said as they dug in. Assad was taking over in the kitchen, and Rufus had offered to help him out a little, although Assad seemed to be hesitant about working with a naked mole rat, to Rufus's indignant surprise. Not that either of them had much to do, fortunately – the shop's hustle and bustle was dying down as the night went on.

"So how's the job so far?" asked Kim. "Ready to run out the door screaming yet?"

"It's been a lot of fun, actually. The baking is nice, and it was cool coming out once in a while and hearing people say how much they enjoy it. I feel like I'm doing something a lot more rewarding than anything I did at Smarty Mart when I was manager, you know?"

"Great," said Monique. "Sounds like a good fit."

"I was just talking with Kim about missions," said Wade. "I assume you guys are interested in going on more sometime soon?"

"Well," said Ron, "I have this job now, and Kim has college, so I don't think we can keep up the pace that we had in high school, but I'd definitely be into it if Kim wants to try it out again."

"Totally," said Kim. "Why, what do you have for us, Wade?"

"Nothing tonight," he said as he tried to discreetly brush away a mess of cupcake crumbs he had made on the table, "but I've been talking to Dr. Director and she has a few things on the shelf that she could throw at us."

Kim tapped the wrist Kimmunicator, which she was now wearing in place of her regular watch. "If you want to reach me, you know what to do!"

"Excellent. I'm really glad you guys made up, you know. I was hoping you'd work things out on that last mission, because I was getting pretty bored there for a while. I did some consulting work with Global Justice, but they can get pretty boring. Did you know I even helped out on a mission or two with Will Du?"

"No kidding," said Ron. "How'd you like that?"

"Horrible," said Wade. "That guy is about as exciting as an appendectomy. There's really nothing quite as fun as working with you guys. I don't know how, but you always get into the craziest sitches."

Ron nodded thoughtfully as he took a sip of coffee and chewed on one of his cupcakes. He was surprised to know that Wade and Kim had been out of the loop on supervillains and their activities as much as he was. He supposed the breakup had really thrown them all off. But things would change now. Drakken and Shego were off the radar, at least sort of, but there were other villains to fight.

"We might have to deal with Bonnie," Ron pointed out. "And Midas, since he took over Shego's island after I left."

Kim had briefly heard about Midas rebelling against his green-skinned employer from Wade, but Ron's comment about Bonnie was more confusing. "What do you mean by Bonnie?" she asked. "She seemed okay when we visited the Senior's island."

"Oh, nope, you didn't see it. Bonnie and the Seniors attacked me and Shego when we got back from par –" Ron stopped abruptly and coughed out a spray of crumbs. "From, uh – when I was keeping tabs on Shego's activities to see if she was up to any villainy. But anyway, Bonnie had some new martial arts moves and everything. It seemed like maybe Señor Senior Senior's been turning her to the dark side."

"You say that like she wasn't _already_ on the dark side," said Kim. "Still, that's interesting. Sounds like I left Shego's island a little too quickly. I guess should be thanking you for sticking around and making sure Shego wasn't up to anything. That was a pretty gutsy decision on your part, too – if Shego was in the mood, she could have been all over you once I left!"

Wade raised an eyebrow at Ron, who blushed a deep crimson and tried to hide his face behind a raised mug of steaming coffee. "Just part of the job," he mumbled as he took a sip. "But yeah, I think we'll have more than enough to deal with if those two are on the rise."

Monique scarfed down another cupcake as she listened to the conversation. Missions were not really her thing, although she had to admit that fighting the Fashionistas years ago had been sort of enjoyable in its own way. After the fact, at least. Maybe someday she would even join her two friends once in a while.

"I gotta say," she said as she finished her snack, "Drakken's cupcakes were pretty good, but these – _man_! How do you do it Ron?"

Kim and Wade nodded their heads in agreement.

"These totally rock," said Kim. "I forgot how much I missed your cooking, Ron. Er, not that your cooking is any worse, Monique!"

"Relax, girl."

Kim breathed a sigh of relief. "Still, what's the deal, Ron? Is there some secret ingredient?"

Ron shook his head in amusement. Drakken had also asked him about his secret a couple of times already, but there were no secret ingredients in his baking.

Not exactly, anyway. It was true he sometimes liked to throw in some unusual spices, work with high-quality flour and butter, fresh eggs. Not to mention that timing was very important when it came to taking something out of the oven so it tasted just right. But all of that was really just icing on the cupcake. Ron always believed that, no matter what he was baking, the most important thing was not really the food itself, but what he put into it beyond its ingredients. Love, passion, and attention. A personal touch.

Just as important as all the heart that Ron poured into his baking was what happened after he took it out of the oven. The act of sharing, of enjoying it with friends and family. Food was a communal experience, whether it was a home-cooked meal or something from Bueno Nacho; the people with whom you shared your meals made all the difference in the world. One of Assad's amateurish cupcakes could taste like heaven around loved ones, while one of Ron's cupcakes would taste like bitter ashes in the company of enemies. There were many things in life that could tear people apart, but Ron always believed food was one of the few things that could bring them together. He had experienced that firsthand as a result of his cupcake mission with Kim.

Monique, Kim, and Wade grabbed the last few cupcakes, and while Ron was about to grab the last one, lying there tantalizing and alone on its tray, he relented at the last moment and let Wade take it. He didn't really want it that much anyway. His friends chatted happily with each other as Ron sat in the booth and enjoyed the rest of his break, content in the knowledge that he already had everything he wanted.

XX

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_**Notes** - That's it! Hope you enjoyed the story, and leave a review to let me know what you thought! Thanks to Earl Allison, Darev, Joe Stoppingheim, Eoraptor, Rika24, princessvmlg, XanQenadius, lovemekp, EnterpriseCV-6, Pojko, MaskedClouds, Katsumara, Lope21, Neo the Saiyan Angel, and Eddy13 for reviewing._

_I wanted to leave a few things somewhat unresolved, most obviously how Kim might react to discovering Ron's budding romance with Shego, as well as just where Drakken and Hank actually fall in terms of morality. Out of all the stories I've written so far, this is the one for which I'd be most interested in writing a sequel, since I feel like there's a lot I could play with._

_That being said, I don't think I will write a sequel. I felt like there was no built-in audience for this story - apparently I did not learn from my previous big Brick Flagg centered story, _Just a Jock_, hehe. Given that I enjoy writing most of my ideas about equally, I'd prefer starting something new where I could get a lot more reviews. And I seem to prefer starting new stories instead of continuing existing ones anyway._

_Putting this up was kind of an interesting experience for me. Despite the alternate pairings warning, it seems like mostly K/R fans were reading it (at least at first), and no Kim/Mon fans or alt pairing fans in general. I was a bit surprised by that. Some stuck with it and some dropped out early, which I can understand. This has actually gotten more hits than _Just a Jock_ but fewer reviews... not sure what that means. I think _Just a Jock_ was more focused and streamlined, but didn't have as much intertwining character interaction or twists, so I guess I like them both in different ways._

_I'm not sure when I will write another Kim Possible story. I've been planning to write for other shows more, not that I'm saying I will give up writing for Kim Possible in the future. My next story will be for _The Office _(U.S.). I've even been thinking about changing my name as I switch to a wider variety of shows. DoofusPrime comes from KP, it seems to suggest comedy, and perhaps sounds like it comes from Transformers, which I haven't watched - but maybe I'm overthinking it. I've been thinking about using the name "Fanegyric" as a play on "Panegyric", and it sounds sort of catchy to me, but maybe it's pretentious. I dunno, I can't decide if I should take a new name or just keep this one. What do you guys think?_


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